LAST UPDATE | 3 hrs ago
THE CONDITIONS OF a hostage swap deal, part of a larger ceasefire agreement in Gaza, have been agreed, according to sources in Qatar where a final round of negotiations are taking place.
A source told the AFP News Agency today that the final round of talks aimed at putting an end to the conflict in Gaza, after 15 months of war, are set to take place today and will hammer out the remaining details of the agreement.
Two sources close to Hamas told this afternoon told the AFP news agency that Israel would release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first stage of a Gaza truce deal, in exchange for 33 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel in 2024, has killed more than 46,500 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ attack in 2023, when 1,210 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were killed according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
More than 250 people were taken hostage during the attack, 94 of whom still remain captive in Gaza by Hamas.
“Israel will release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including several with lengthy sentences,” one of the two sources said. An Israeli government official confirmed that “several hundred” prisoners will be released as part of the first phase of the deal.
US President Joe Biden yesterday confirmed that negotiators are reviewing the conditions of a three-phase, Israeli-proposed deal that he announced, as a third party, in May 2024.
A version of the plan is likely to be agreed by the end of the week, according to the White House, who are mediating the talks between Israel and Hamas alongside representatives from Doha and Egypt.
Phase one of the plan would include a six-week ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated regions of Gaza and the release of female, elderly and wounded hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
The second phase includes the release of the remaining hostages and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
The third phase looks to the reconstruction of Gaza, without a Hamas-backed authority in charge, and returning of the hostages to their families. There will then be a permanent ceasefire implemented.
The leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, a Palestinian political party based in the West Bank has told the BBC they believe Hamas has accepted the deal.
“The deal is almost ready and I think the Palestinian side has agreed to it, accepted it. They’re waiting for the Israeli final response,” Mustafa Barghouti has told BBC Radio 4′s World at One programme.
“So we’re closer to the deal than any time before,” he says, adding that is because “Netanyahu could not tolerate anymore the internal Israeli pressure and external pressure, especially coming from Trump.”
Israel’s government will reportedly vote on “any ceasefire deal”, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told reporters today.
Mencer added that any agreement would be put to the cabinet for a vote, just as the last temporary truce was in November 2023.
“Again, this is not concluded yet – it’s very important to remember that. We are moving closer but this is not concluded yet.”
Two far-right Israeli ministers have threatened to quit over the deal, which they labelled a “surrender” to Hamas.
The heads of Israel’s intelligence agencies, the Middle East envoys for the incoming and outgoing US administrations and Qatar’s prime minister are due at the talks today. There will be separate talks held with Hamas.
Mediators Qatar, the United States and Egypt have been engaged in months of talks between Israel and Hamas aimed at ending the Gaza war and releasing hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
Since early this month, indirect negotiations have resumed in Doha.
A source with knowledge of the talks said there had been “significant progress on the remaining sticking points” yesterday following negotiations in Doha, leading to a new “concrete” proposal being presented to the parties.
- © AFP 2025, includes reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill
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