Qatari Newspaper: Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations Enter Prisoner Swap Phase

Photo Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90

Hundreds of demonstrators set fire to the street outside Israel’s defense ministry, demanding the release of the hostages, December 7, 2024.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a London-based news outlet owned by Qatari company Fadaat Media, on Monday reported, citing an informed source, that the ceasefire negotiations over Gaza have reached an advanced stage, stressing that the negotiations have reached the stage of exchanging the names of prisoners through mediators.

The source explained that technical committees from Hamas, Egypt, and Israel have begun their work on the details of implementing the security prisoner and hostage exchange deal and that Hamas has handed the Egyptian mediator a preliminary list and some proposals, which are also being examined by an Israeli delegation.

The source pointed out that the parties are unprecedentedly serious about reaching an agreement, and that Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the United States are participating in supervising the negotiations.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has learned that the Hamas negotiating delegation, during a visit that lasted several hours in Cairo on Sunday, handed over to the officials of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service a list of the names of several elderly Israeli hostages, as well as hostages with medical conditions, who are scheduled to be included in the prisoner exchange deal between the Hamas in Gaza and the Israeli government. The delegation also handed over a list of the names of several security prisoners in Israeli prisons to be released as part of the deal.

Hamas’s negotiating delegation, headed by Khalil al-Hayya, visited the Egyptian capital on Sunday for several hours, during which they met with the head of the General Intelligence Service, Major General Hassan Rashad. Hamas said in a statement that the meeting discussed ceasefire efforts in the Gaza Strip and the Community Support Committee in the Strip, stressing Hamas’s keenness to make these efforts successful and end the war.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has learned that an Israeli delegation is scheduled to arrive in Cairo within hours on Monday to discuss some of the proposed terms for concluding a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, including proposed keys to the exchange deal and the areas from which the IDF would withdraw during the duration of the agreement.

According to the Hamas proposal, a transitional period will be scheduled during which paths will be opened for a permanent ceasefire agreement, and the war on Gaza will end after 14 months.

PARTIAL HOSTAGE RETURN

According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the expected deal is set to include the release of four prisoners who hold American citizenships, although they do not meet the conditions of prisoners included in the transitional or preliminary phase. Egyptian circles familiar with the negotiations indicate that there is a state of optimism about reaching an agreement within the deadline set by US President-elect Donald Trump.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed also learned that Hamas agreed to a 60-day transitional period during which all the food, medicine, and fuel needs of the Gaza Strip would be brought in.

The Hamas leadership, headed by the chief of its Shura Council, Mohammed Darwish, held separate meetings last Saturday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, Turkish Intelligence Minister Ibrahim Kalin, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, which addressed the mediators’ efforts to launch a new round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

THE BOYS FROM RAMALLAH

Meanwhile, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has learned that officials in the Egyptian General Intelligence Service are intensifying their efforts to convince Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the PA leadership, and the Fatah movement to agree to the Egyptian initiative to form the Community Support Committee, especially after Hamas announced its full approval of the move.

Over the past few days, the head of Egyptian intelligence has made several contacts with officials in the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement, including Major General Majed Faraj, head of intelligence in the Palestinian Authority, and renowned terrorist Jibril Rajoub, in an attempt to urge them to convince Abbas to agree and invite the PA Arab factions to meet in Cairo and agree on forming the committee, which Cairo is counting on to facilitate negotiations for a permanent solution in the Gaza Strip as part of the moves the day after the cessation of the war.