Israel, the US, Qatar, and Egypt believe that Hamas' response to the draft hostage deal will arrive within a day or two.
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The draft does not include a formula as to how many prisoners Israel would release for each hostage but only general principles. If Hamas accepts the principles, detailed negotiations will open on the implementation method.
Representatives of the four countries – the head of Mossad, David Barnea, the head of the CIA, William Burns, the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the head of Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate Abbas Kamel reached an agreement and even signed a document detailing the principles for the deal.
Video: Families of the hostages camp outside the prime minister's home / Yehonatan Shaul
The goal behind this move is to make it clear to Hamas that this is the only possible framework on the table. Now it remains to see what the reaction of the terrorist organization will be.
According to the principles agreed upon, the deal would be carried out in "humanitarian rounds": first, women, the elderly, and the infirm would be returned to Israel. Then, the female soldiers will be released. In the next stage, the young men abducted from the Nova rave on Oct. 7 will be allowed back home, then the male soldiers. In the final stage, Hamas will return the bodies of the kidnapped who were murdered.
In exchange for the return of the captives, Israel would halt its military operation and release a yet-to-be-determined number of terrorists. The rounds of the deal are expected to take place over approximately two months, allowing Hamas to claim that Israel has stopped the war as demanded.
The conventional wisdom is that implementing the ceasefire over such a long period will be a de facto end to the war.
Alongside the "small deal" to release the captives, the US will seek to achieve a historic regional agreement during the days of negotiations and ceasefire, under which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it. This recognition is supposed to compensate Israel for stopping the war before the goal of collapsing Hamas rule was achieved.
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