JERUSALEM, April 30 — Hopes rose on Monday for a long-sought-after truce and hostage release deal after almost seven months of war in Gaza between Palestinian Hamas militants and Israel.
Washington’s top diplomat said he was “hopeful” Hamas would accept the offer, which his British counterpart said could see the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
After meeting in Cairo, the Hamas delegation left Egypt and returned to Qatar “to discuss the ideas and the proposal… and we are keen to respond as quickly as possible,” a Hamas source close to the talks told AFP on condition of anonymity.
According to Egyptian sources quoted by Al-Qahera News, a site also linked to Egyptian intelligence services, the Hamas delegation will “return with a written response to the truce proposal”.
For months, meditators Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to broker a new agreement between the combatants. A one-week truce in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Diplomacy in the past few days appeared to suggest a new push to halt the fighting.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a World Economic Forum special meeting in Riyadh that the proposal before Hamas is “extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel”.
He urged the Islamist group to “decide quickly”, saying: “I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision.”
Speaking at the WEF meeting, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said “the proposal has taken into account the positions of both sides”.
“We are hopeful,” he added.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told the same gathering that Hamas has been offered a “sustained 40 days’ ceasefire, the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, in return for the release of these hostages.”
On the sidelines of the Riyadh meeting, European and Arab foreign ministers met to discuss how to join forces on advancing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is among the leaders who told the WEF gathering that tangible and irreversible steps towards establishing a Palestinian state would be an essential component of any deal for a durable ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a long-standing opponent of Palestinian statehood.
