Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza and supporters in protest march calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, August 15, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
Details include all hostages to be released at once in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas leaders to be exiled, and a multinational force to oversee the ‘day after.’
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Israel has sent the United States a new deal it is willing to conclude with Hamas that would free the hostages and end the war all in a single phase, Israel’s Hebrew-language press reported Thursday.
The main sticking points in the current proposal revolve around its three stages. Israel fears that Hamas would backtrack after releasing only the first group of hostages, and has refused the terrorist group’s demand for the IDF to leave the Philadelphi Corridor, a critical security zone.
In the new deal, all the hostages would be released at once and an as-yet unknown number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails would be freed.
In addition, safe passage to a third country will be guaranteed for Hamas head Yahya Sinwar, which he had recently insisted be part of a deal, and for all terrorists who want to leave Gaza, which could number in the thousands.
The process of demilitarization, meaning the destruction of Hamas huge arsenal of weapons, would commence immediately upon their departure and the concomitant withdrawal of Israeli military forces from the Strip.
A multinational force would oversee Gaza’s disarmament and, eventually, its reconstruction.
The supervising countries were not identified by name. There are reportedly several options, such as a combination of American and Sunni Arab states.
If the deal is not executed within the listed time frame, the proposal states that the IDF will be allowed to return and recommence the war.
The government’s coordinator on the hostage issue, Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, has already presented the plan to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which reacted positively to the idea.
“We welcome [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s new outline: a one-shot deal and the end of the fighting,” the Forum said in a statement. “A one-shot deal that includes all 101 abductees is the wish of all Israeli citizens in general and the families of the abductees in particular…. The prime minister must lead with courage, determination and speed the proposal he formulated.”
Several families of male civilian and soldier hostages, who were to be released only in the second stage of the current plan, had opposed it because they feared that Hamas would renege after the first stage and murder those who were still left in their hands.
According to Kan News, hostage families are demanding that the prime minister give voice to his new proposal at the opening of the UN General Assembly next week, which he is scheduled to address on September 26.
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