what does the pending truce agreement contain despite a “first positive confirmation” from Hamas?

The agreement initially provides for six weeks of stopping the fighting, and the release of 200 to 300 Palestinian detainees in exchange for 35 to 40 hostages.

We had to wait four days to get “a first positive confirmation” of Hamas to the proposal for a humanitarian pause negotiated in Paris last Sunday, January 28. This was an announcement on Thursday February 1 evening from the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Majed Al-Ansari.

However, we are still very far from an agreement. Majed Al-Ansari, he said, hopes to be able to bring good news within two weeks. Two months after the end of the only truce, the time has come for caution. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar speaks of “premises” Okay, which could lead to a second pause in fighting.

Nothing very significant at the moment, even if the belligerents seem to agree, in principle, to deepen the discussions. In fact, there is no point of convergence. A Hamas source, cited by AFP, mentions a statement “rushed” of Qatar, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been repeating for a week that he will not make any concessions.

Several weeks of cessation of combat against the release of hostages

According to the Islamist organization, the proposal negotiated in Paris initially provides for six weeks of stopping the fighting, and the release of 200 to 300 Palestinian detainees in exchange for 35 to 40 hostages, women, children and sick men over 60 years old. But before going any further, Hamas has one demand: that Israel commit to a definitive ceasefire. On the battlefield, this is far from being the case as fighting rages in Khan Younes, south of Gaza.

The city is devastated, many of its inhabitants have left. The Israeli army announced on Thursday February 1 that it had dismantled the Hamas brigade which was still resisting. However, the war is far from over. Traveling as close as possible to his troops, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant promised that he would not stop there: “The Khan Younes brigade said with pride that it would resist the IDF. Well, it is defeated. I tell you, we will finish our mission in Khan Younes. And then we will go to Rafah and we will eliminate all the terrorists who want to reach us”, he explained.

Rafah is a town in the south of Gaza, on the Egyptian border which today has 1.3 million inhabitants (out of 2.4 million Gazans). They were four times less before the war. Tents as far as the eye can see, and inside, displaced people who since Thursday have oscillated between the hope of a ceasefire and the fear of having to flee the fighting once again.