Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip (Photo: AFP).
Al Jazeera on February 1 quoted information from the Qatari Foreign Ministry saying that a ceasefire plan was presented at an event in Paris last weekend, in which Qatari and Egyptian diplomats participated as mediators between Israel and Hamas.
Delegations from West Jerusalem and Gaza left Paris with a promise to study the proposal and negotiate further this week. By the evening of February 1, a ceasefire appeared to be within reach.
"Israel has agreed to the ceasefire proposal and we have received initial positive confirmation from Hamas," a Qatari foreign ministry spokesman said. "We are waiting for their final response," the spokesman added.
The proposed ceasefire would be implemented in three phases, Hamas told Reuters earlier this week.
In the first phase, fighting will stop for 40 days while Hamas returns women, children and elderly hostages it is still holding. During this time, large-scale deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza will be resumed.
In the next stages, Hamas will hand over detained Israeli soldiers and the bodies of Israeli soldiers, in exchange for further aid deliveries and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Hamas said: " Military activities on both sides will stop in three stages." Hamas also said that the two sides can negotiate further on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released.
The proposal falls short of Hamas' initial demand for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but if successful, could be a step toward ending the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages. Israel responded by besieging Gaza and launching airstrikes on the territory. After nearly four months of fighting, more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Authority.
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