Status: 20.12.2023, 06:48 a.m.
By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
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In the Israeli war, another ceasefire seems possible. Both Israel and Hamas are open to talks. The news ticker.
- Negotiations on new ceasefire: Israel seeks release of hostages
- Hamas chief in Egypt: Talks on ceasefire and end of "aggression"
- The information processed here on the war in Israel and the Gaza Stripcomes from local and international media as well as news agencies. Much of the information cannot be independently verified. Even in these cases, we remain transparent.
Tel Aviv – Israel has offered a new ceasefire of at least a week in negotiations for the release of more hostages from the Gaza Strip, according to a media report. As the news portal Axios reported on Wednesday night (20 December), citing two Israeli officials and another informed source, Israel expects the Islamist Hamas to release more than three dozen hostages in return.
Negotiations on new ceasefire: Israel seeks release of hostages
The day before, Israel's President Izchak Herzog had held out the prospect of a new pause in the fighting. "Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian assistance to facilitate the release of hostages," he told diplomats, according to a spokesman.
Israel's proposal for a ceasefire of at least a week in exchange for the release of around 40 hostages was made through the mediator Qatar, the news portal reported. This includes the rest of the women, men over 60 years of age and other hostages still held in Gaza, who are sick or seriously wounded and in urgent need of medical attention, it said. It is Israel's first proposal since a week-long ceasefire expired last month, Axios reported. In the process, 105 hostages were released. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Hamas chief in Egypt: Talks on ceasefire and end of "aggression"
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was also expected in Egypt for talks on a ceasefire and prisoner exchanges. Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, will lead a "high-level" Hamas delegation in Egypt on Wednesday, according to sources close to the Palestinian organization. Among other things, talks are planned with the powerful Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
The purpose of the meetings was to "stop the aggression and the war in order to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners and an end to the siege of the Gaza Strip," Hamas sources said. It is also about the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip, a withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Palestinian territory and a return of the population to the north of the Gaza Strip. (bb with AFP)