By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Mohammad Salem and Maayan Lubell
Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza were gathering momentum on Friday after Hamas made a revised proposal on the terms of a deal and Israel said it would resume stalled negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday he would send a delegation to resume negotiations, and an Israeli official said his country's team would be led by the head of the Mossad intelligence agency.
A source in Israel's negotiating team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was now a real chance of achieving agreement. The Israeli remarks were in sharp contrast to past instances in the nine-month-old war in Gaza, when Israel said conditions attached by Hamas were not acceptable.
A Palestinian official close to the internationally mediated peace efforts said the latest proposal by the militant Islamist group could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel. He said Hamas was no longer demanding as a pre-condition an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire before the signing of an agreement, and would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout a first six-week phase.
"Should the sides need more time to seal an agreement on a permanent ceasefire, the two sides should agree there would be no return to the fighting until they do that," the official told Multibagger.
Turkey's president, Tayyip Erdogan, was quoted by Turkish media as saying he hoped a "final ceasefire" could be secured "in a couple of days", and urged Western countries to put pressure on Israel to accept the terms on offer.
Analysis: Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza are gaining momentum as Hamas and Israel engage in negotiations. The latest developments offer hope for a potential agreement that could bring an end to the nine-month-old war in Gaza. The willingness of both parties to consider revised proposals and resume talks signals a positive step towards achieving peace in the region. If successful, a ceasefire agreement could have significant implications for the lives and finances of individuals in Gaza and the surrounding areas, providing much-needed relief from the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis.