Qatari negotiators are awaiting a final response from Hamas officials, who have seemingly welcomed the plan

Israel has agreed to a ceasefire proposal that would halt its war with Hamas, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday, citing the Qatari Foreign Ministry. Hamas has reportedly given the plan a “positive” response.

The ceasefire plan was hashed out in Paris over the weekend, with Qatari and Egyptian diplomats mediating between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. Delegations from West Jerusalem and Gaza left the French capital promising to study the proposal and negotiate further this week, and by Thursday evening, a deal was apparently within reach.

“Israel agreed to the ceasefire proposal and we have initial positive confirmation from Hamas,” a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry said on Thursday evening, according to Al Jazeera. “We are awaiting their response,” the spokesman added.

The proposed ceasefire will be implemented in three stages, according to a Hamas statement shared with Reuters earlier this week. The first phase would see fighting stop for 40 days as Hamas hands over the female civilians, children, and elderly people it is still holding captive. During this time, large-scale deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza would resume. The following stages would see Hamas turn over captive Israeli soldiers and the bodies of Israeli troops, in exchange for further aid deliveries and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

“Military operations on both sides will stop during the three stages,” the militants said, adding that the number of Palestinian prisoners freed would be open to negotiation.

The proposal falls short of the full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza that Hamas initially demanded. As a step toward ending the war, however, it also threatens Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to keep fighting until Israel achieves “total victory” over the militants, as he has promised on multiple occasions.

While hardliners within Netanyahu’s cabinet have pressed him to reject any deal they view as too lenient towards Hamas, Israel has faced international condemnation over its conduct in Gaza, and two of the Jewish state’s most stalwart backers – the US and UK – suggested this week that they could soon recognize an independent Palestinian state. Such an outcome would be a political disaster for Netanyahu, who angered Washington and London last month when he outright rejected a two-state solution to the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.

https://www.rt.com/news/591674-israel-accepts-ceasefire-hamas/

Dandal:
but, but,... what happened to the following Israel's strategic objectives in Gaza :

1) Destroying Hamas and its ability to attack Israel
2) Freeing Israeli captives from Hamas in Gaza
3) Destroying Hamas Tunnels and weapons.

Not only has Israel reneged on its promised never to negotiate with Hamas, but also

1) IDF is withdrawing from Gaza
2) Hamas is moving back into formerly occupied IDF positions in Gaza.
3) Hamas barrage of rockets into Israel has not ceased, but intensified.
4) Hamas Tunnels are pretty much still intact
5) Not a single Israeli hostage was freed by IDF, instead IDF shot on-sight 3 Israeli hostages and gassed 1, and 20 more died from IDF bombardments.
6) Israel has lost the propaganda war and global support for its cause.
7) Israel adversaries are more united and stronger than ever.

In conclusion, Israel has lost the war.

When some of us, objectively predicted that Israel can not achieve any of the objectives it sets for the war, hence will face a strategic defeat in Gaza, emotional naysayers called us all sort of names.

oz4real83:
stop consoling yourself, as at last count, palestine\hamas has over 25,000 souls while Israel less than 5,000. Israel has destroyed almost all infrastructure in Gaza, Gaza is even releasing all the captured Israelis, which is even one of the conditions given. Just stop this your propaganda.

oz4real83:
stop consoling yourself, as at last count, palestine\hamas has over 25,000 souls while Israel less than 5,000. Israel has destroyed almost all infrastructure in Gaza, Gaza is even releasing all the captured Israelis, which is even one of the conditions given. Just stop this your propaganda.

oz4real83:
stop consoling yourself, as at last count, palestine\hamas has over 25,000 souls while Israel less than 5,000. Israel has destroyed almost all infrastructure in Gaza, Gaza is even releasing all the captured Israelis, which is even one of the conditions given. Just stop this your propaganda.

atiku4President:
Good development. For the sake of their people whose loved ones are still in captivity.

However, more pressure is needed to completely de-radicalise the terrorists in Gaza and guarantee the security of Israel.

oz4real83:
stop consoling yourself, as at last count, palestine\hamas has over 25,000 souls while Israel less than 5,000. Israel has destroyed almost all infrastructure in Gaza, Gaza is even releasing all the captured Israelis, which is even one of the conditions given. Just stop this your propaganda.

oz4real83:
Before you say jack, Hamas would have broken the ceasefire deal

Kazeemabiodun:
Your father is bastard