Hamas is examining a truce proposal in three stages, the first of which provides for a six-week ceasefire. The new proposal also provides in a first stage for the release of 42 Israeli hostages in exchange for 800 to 900 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
In a second step, all the other hostages would be released. A third and final stage provides for the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and an end to the siege of the territory imposed by Israel after Hamas took power there in 2007.