Mothers of “recovered premature infants”: Horror does not leave us despite our survival

Efforts to establish a first “humanitarian truce” in the Gaza Strip and implement a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Hamas movement are racing against time, after days of differing positions and conflicting statements, especially from the Israeli government.

There were repeated Egyptian and American statements and by prominent leaders of the Hamas movement, in addition to official Israeli reports, all of which indicated that “an agreement is close to being announced,” while experts who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat expressed fear of what they described as “last-minute obstacles” that might prevent… Implementation of the agreement.

Official Egyptian sources confirmed, on Tuesday, the existence of joint Egyptian-Qatari coordination to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip. The sources, described as “high-level,” explained to the Egyptian “Cairo News” channel that “Cairo is intensifying its efforts with all parties concerned to reach a truce,” and indicated that the Egyptian mediation “seeks a humanitarian truce and an exchange of prisoners and detainees on both sides.”

Repeated American statements in recent hours indicated that “a deal to release the hostages held by the Hamas movement” was close to being reached.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he believed that an agreement was “coming soon,” according to what was reported by Reuters. While the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that “a prisoner exchange agreement is imminent,” the Israeli official body explained that “Hamas has communicated a proposal in recent days, and Israel has agreed to accept the conditions and demands, and now the ball has moved to Hamas’ court again and it must show responsibility.” And the seriousness to reach an agreement.”

Hamas is waiting for Israel’s response

On the other hand, Hamas officials said on Tuesday that the movement is “awaiting Israel’s response regarding a humanitarian truce agreement in the Gaza Strip mediated by Qatar and Egypt.” The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Tuesday, “The movement has delivered its response to the brothers in Qatar and the mediators, and we are close to reaching a truce agreement.” A member of the movement’s political bureau, Khalil Al-Hayya, said in a brief statement, “We are still awaiting the occupation’s response regarding the humanitarian truce agreement, after we delivered our response to the Egyptian and Qatari brothers, who are making appreciated efforts to reach the agreement.”

Al-Hayya did not reveal any details about the agreement, but identical reports spoke of “a five-day truce that includes the release of 50 civilians detained by Hamas and those holding foreign nationalities in daily batches.” According to the agreement, during the truce, the introduction of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip will be intensified, including fuel, in conjunction with the cessation of Israeli aircraft flying in the skies of the Gaza Strip.

Details of the armistice agreement

For his part, Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, revealed on Tuesday some of the provisions of the upcoming agreement with Israel, stressing that the full details “will be published by Qatar when they are completed.” Al-Rishq said in television statements that the ongoing talks on the issue of negotiations to release detainees in Gaza agree, among other things, with a truce that will last for several days and include arrangements for the release of detainees in Gaza and the entry of aid into the Strip.

According to Al-Rishq, the agreement will include the release of Israeli women and children from Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. He denied that the exchange deal included Israeli military prisoners, but at the same time indicated the movement’s readiness for a “comprehensive agreement for all prisoners.” He added, “It is Israel that seems not ready for this.”

According to the Israeli authorities, the Hamas movement has detained 239 Israelis and foreigners since October 7, while the Palestinian resistance factions are reluctant to announce details of the number of prisoners they have, but they announced the killing of a number of them as a result of Israeli bombing, as the Al-Qassam Brigades announced, The military arm of the Hamas movement said on Saturday that it had lost contact with groups protecting Israeli prisoners, noting that their fate “is still unknown.”

Confidence-building measures

For his part, Dr. Tariq Fahmy, professor of international relations at the American University in Cairo and head of the Israeli Studies Unit at the National Center for Middle East Studies, suggested that an agreement would be announced to establish “a humanitarian truce and not a ceasefire with an exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas,” adding that Egypt and the participating parties will “guarantor the completion of the agreement.” Fahmi explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that there is a will forming to establish the first truce after 46 days of military operations in the Gaza Strip, and that the truces “will be implemented gradually and phased, and that the exchange of prisoners will focus on civilians and humanitarian cases, in a head-to-head manner.”

Fahmy described the first humanitarian truce, if approved, as “an advanced step,” but added that reaching a ceasefire “requires measures to build confidence and ensure that the parties participating in the mediation are of the seriousness of both sides of the conflict,” pointing out that the Americans “are present closely in the mediation and negotiation efforts, both to support Israel or fear of obstructing the agreement at the last moments.”

Since the beginning of the crisis in the Gaza Strip, Egypt announced its openness to various efforts aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in the Strip and working to achieve a ceasefire. Egyptian officials made extensive contacts regarding completing a prisoner exchange agreement, and Egyptian-Qatari coordination took place in this regard.

The Israeli affairs expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Dr. Saeed Okasha, pointed out the difficulty of the negotiations in light of the possibility of retreat at the last moments as a result of the lack of agreement on technical or security details related to the release of detainees and the availability of safety procedures and the commitment of the parties to the conflict, explaining that the agreement will be made public. It would be an “important breakthrough.” He added to Asharq Al-Awsat that until the last hours, parties within the Israeli war government still refused to move forward with an agreement with Hamas, usually a “losing deal” and a restriction on the completion of military operations, but he indicated the presence of “a strong American will to complete the agreement, “This represents significant pressure on those opposition voices within the Israeli government.”

Last month, Egyptian-Qatari mediation succeeded in releasing two Israeli detainees held by Hamas, which in turn announced that this operation was for “humanitarian reasons.” Qatar also succeeded three days earlier in releasing a mother and her daughter who hold American citizenship.