Report: Hostage Release Deal in Three Phases, Begins with Lull in Fighting

February 2, 2024

by: Ynetnews

Friday, 2 February 2024 | More details on the hostage release deal being negotiated were revealed in a Wall Street Journal report published early on Thursday. The deal will reportedly begin with a six-week lull in the fighting and a suspension of drone fights over Gaza, while Hamas gathers the hostages ahead of their release.

The first batch of captives would be civilians, including the elderly, the sick and children. In Gaza, civilians would be free to move around the strip and aid could also reach all parts.

If that phase is successful, the Wall Street Journal said, a second phase would be put into motion with the release of female soldiers and the delivery of more aid into Gaza, which will ensure the operation of hospitals, water services and bakeries. Hamas demands that 50 Palestinian prisoners be freed by Israel for every women in the service.

In the third phase, according to the report, Hamas would release male soldiers and the bodies of dead hostages but not all of the male captive because Hamas considers all men of a certain age to be potential soldiers.

Hamas has also demanded the return of the bodies of Palestinians killed during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the report said, quoting negotiators.

“That final stage of the deal is expected to be the most precarious, as Hamas’s leaders in Gaza could hold on to a small group of hostages as bargaining chips and human shields, while Israel may refuse to release certain prisoners demanded by the Gaza terror faction,” Wall Street Journal said.

Posted on February 2, 2024

Source: (Excerpt from an article originally published by Ynetnews on February 2, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

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