Unconfirmed reports indicate additional advancement in attempts to reach a new prisoner exchange agreement between Israel, Hamas, and a variety of intermediaries, the Washington Post reported. The negotiations include attempts to secure pauses in the fighting and Israeli clearance for additional humanitarian aid.
According to anonymous Israeli and US officials, the main obstacle in negotiations is Israel's refusal to grant a long-term ceasefire, with Prime Minister Netanyahu declaring, “I utterly reject the Hamas monsters' capitulation terms.”
The current proposal favored by negotiators includes several stages of hostage releases in exchange for groups of convicted terrorists held by Israel. Among the groups of hostages to be released are women who were not freed when the previous deal broke down, sick and elderly hostages in need of treatment, and finally soldiers and the bodies of hostages killed on October 7th or in captivity.
The Post noted that the ratio of terrorists to Israelis released is expected to be above three to one, and may include Marwan Barghouti, who led the first and second intifadas. Barghouti is probably the most popular political leader in the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza and potentially could unite Palestinians in a push toward statehood.
Any negotiations are expected to include humanitarian pauses in the fighting in Gaza.