Hamas and Israel Achieved New 'Breakthrough' In Ceasefire Negotiations

Multiple sources indicate that the Gaza ceasefire negotiations held in Doha, Qatar, have achieved a breakthrough.

An Israeli official said that the parties involved in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations have reached a ceasefire and hostage exchange agreement to be implemented in three phases, and are currently awaiting a response from Hamas. The official stated that the outline of the ceasefire agreement is clear and significant progress has been made in the negotiations.

According to Israeli media reports, the general content of the three-phase agreement is that during the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas will release female, child, physically weak hostages, and male hostages over the age of 50. On the 16th day of the ceasefire, Israel will hold talks with Hamas on the release of Israeli male soldiers. In the third phase of the ceasefire, the parties will discuss the management and reconstruction of Gaza.

The specific details of the agreement have not been disclosed. An Israeli official revealed that Qatar is pressuring Hamas to persuade the organization to accept the new agreement, while Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy appointed by US-elected President Donald Trump, is pressuring Israel.

On the evening of the January 12th, local time, Witkoff held talks in Doha with officials from the Israeli Intelligence and Special Services (Mossad) and Emir of Qatari Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Israeli senior officials such as Mossad Director David Barnea and the Director of the Israeli Security Agency Ronen Bar attended the talks, while previously the main Israeli participants were technical expert representatives.

It is reported that it was after the talks on Sunday that the Gaza ceasefire negotiations made a breakthrough. Israeli officials said that 90% of the agreement's content has been agreed upon in the negotiations, and Qatar has submitted the final draft of the ceasefire agreement to Hamas and Israel respectively.

Israeli officials said the next 24 hours will be crucial. Egyptian officials, however, stated that although good progress has been made in the negotiations, it will still take several days to have a definite result, and all parties are striving to reach an agreement before Trump's inauguration on January 20th.

An anonymous Hamas official said that some key issues have not yet been resolved, including Israel's need to commit to ending the war in Gaza, the timetable for the Israeli army's withdrawal from Gaza, and the details of the exchange of Gaza hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Previously, Israel refused to commit to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only willing to exchange temporary ceasefires for the release of Israeli hostages. Israel estimates that there are currently 96 hostages in Gaza, of which at least 34 have been killed. In addition, the management of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is also a point of contention, with Israel intending to continue stationing troops in the Philadelphus Corridor where the Rafah crossing is located.

On Sunday last week, President Biden spoke with Netanyahu again on the Gaza issue, with both the Biden and Trump teams pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza. In previous rounds of negotiations, due to serious differences between Israel and Hamas, there was no breakthrough for a long time. Israel sought to destroy Hamas, while Hamas demanded that Israel withdraw from Gaza entirely.

The last ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was in November 2023. So far, the current round of the Gaza conflict has resulted in the death of 46,000 Palestinians and more than 100,000 injured.