Israeli government claims it has achieved its war objectives; ceasefire to take effect within 24 hours of approval
شبكة الخامسة للأنباء - غزة
The Israeli government announced that the final draft of the first phase of a ceasefire plan and a prisoner-exchange deal with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza has been signed, the result of negotiations held in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
A government spokeswoman said on Thursday: “The army will be redeployed on the yellow line, which means control of about 53 percent of Gaza,” adding that the ceasefire in Gaza would take effect within 24 hours after today’s cabinet meeting.
Earlier, Hamas said it had reached the terms of a ceasefire agreement, leaving it to mediators to set the date for it to take effect.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said on the movement’s website that it “reached a formula for a ceasefire agreement, and left the matter to the mediators to announce when it comes into force.”
Early on Thursday, the agreement was announced after four days of indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Sharm el-Sheikh, with delegations from Turkey, Egypt and Qatar participating and U.S. oversight.
Qassem said “the occupation is trying, as usual, to manipulate the timings, the lists and the agreed procedures, to make Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appear to be in control of events.”
He added that his movement is in contact with mediators to compel Israel to implement the agreement and prevent delays, saying “there is talk of the ceasefire taking effect at 12 noon today, but the occupation is postponing the announcement for internal reasons.”
He confirmed that ending the war was Hamas’s central objective in all rounds of negotiations, and that “no stage of the prisoner exchange was discussed without a clear commitment to halt the aggression and the war.”
