By EFE
Dec 24, 2023, 1:31 PM EST
Egypt proposed this Sunday to the Islamist group Hamas a truce of “two or three weeks” in exchange for the release of 40 Israeli hostages, as part of a three-phase plan to achieve a total cessation of the war in the Gaza Strip, they reported. Palestinian sources to EFE.
According to sources, a Hamas delegation will travel to Qatar, where its political office is located, to evaluate this proposal, which Egypt will also present to the Islamic Jihad delegation, headed by its secretary general, Ziad Najalah, who arrived today in El Cairo to address the situation in the Palestinian enclave.
The initiative that Egypt offered to the head of Hamas’s political wing, Ismail Haniye, consists of three points: the first establishes a two- or three-week truce in exchange for the release of 40 Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The second point proposes a process of talks between Palestinians that will lead to the formation of a technocratic government in Gaza.
The third and final point proposes to implement a total cessation of the war, achieve a comprehensive agreement on the exchange of prisoners and hostages between both parties and the withdrawal of Israel from Gaza, according to sources.
They detailed that Egypt will present this plan to the secretary general of Islamic Jihad to consolidate the full Palestinian position towards this initiative.
However, this Palestinian movement has previously shown its rejection of any new hostage exchange agreement with Israel until the Israeli military attack on the Palestinian strip stops.
Islamic Jihad is a radical Palestinian organization considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union, which operates in Gaza, the West Bank and the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Unlike other Palestinian factions, Islamic Jihad refuses to participate in political peace processes and insists that military victory over Israel is the only viable means to achieve its ultimate goal: the establishment of a state in Israel’s territories. West Bank and Gaza.