Washington, United States of America (CNN) – A diplomatic source and another source familiar with the talks revealed to CNN, on Tuesday, that Qatar “hopes to announce an agreement as soon as today” to release civilian hostages held by Hamas since its attack on Israel on July 7. Last October, in exchange for stopping the fighting.
US officials close to the negotiations stressed that although an agreement has not yet been reached, they are “increasingly optimistic and believe that the many weeks of hard work are about to pay off with the release of the hostages.”
“It’s very close,” a senior US official told CNN.
Two Israeli sources said, “The deal may be announced as soon as today.” One of them explained that the release of prisoners requires the approval of the Israeli government, but this is not expected to pose an obstacle.
The agreement stipulates the release of 50 women and children hostage held by Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel, in exchange for a cessation of fighting for 4 to 5 days, in addition to 3 Palestinian prisoners for every civilian hostage who is released, according to multiple sources.
Under the agreement, Hamas will also collect any additional women and children hostage during the period in which fighting has stopped, something Hamas has insisted it cannot do until a full ceasefire is reached.
The temporary ceasefire will likely be extended beyond that until more hostages are released.
According to an informed source, the hostages to be released are of different nationalities, and one of the ones the Americans hope will be released first is the 3-year-old American child Abigail Aidan, the youngest American hostage whose parents were killed.
A source said that during the days when the fighting stops, Israel will stop flying reconnaissance drones over northern Gaza for at least 6 hours every day.
Diplomatic sources and government officials, including US President Joe Biden, have over the past few days sounded a more optimistic tone about progress in the talks, but the diplomatic source indicates that a final agreement may be imminent. Any agreement could be derailed by developments on the ground in Gaza.
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2023-11-21 12:07:04
