Egypt proposes detailed ceasefire plan in Gaza

The proposal, reported by several news outlets, outlines a multi-stage cessation of hostilities that would eventually see the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a unified Palestinian government overseeing the enclave.

The plan includes several exchanges of captives. The first stage would see Hamas and armed Palestinian groups release all civilian captives being held in Gaza in exchange for a negotiated number of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. The result would then be a truce and pause in fighting of between seven and 10 days.

Then during the second stage, Hamas would free all female Israeli soldiers being held captive, and Israel would again free additional Palestinian prisoners. The second stage would include an additional pause in fighting of one week.

The last stage would include a final exchange of captives – Hamas would release the remaining captives and Israel would release more detained Palestinians. This would take place after “negotiations [are] held for a period of one month”, and this phase would also see Israel pulling its forces back to the Gaza border and also continue to cease all aerial campaigns on the Strip.

Hamas would also cease any armed actions against Israel.

The plan was presented to Israel, Hamas and the US on Monday. Egypt’s proposal would also see Cairo, alongside Doha and Washington, engage in negotiations to create a technocratic government to head both occupied Gaza and the West Bank.

The proposal is the most extensive and detailed ceasefire plan since the war on Gaza began in October, however, it appears unlikely to gain traction from either of the warring parties.

Israel’s war cabinet is due to discuss the proposal on Monday evening, but a western diplomat told the Associated Press that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet is not likely to accept the proposal in its entirety.

Netanyahu has also vowed to press on with the military campaign on Gaza, with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas.

“We are expanding the fight in the coming days… this will be a long battle and it isn’t close to finished,” he said.

At the same time, several Egyptian officials told Reuters that both Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected the proposal that they both relinquish their power in Gaza.

The news of the ceasefire plan comes as the death toll in Israel’s war on Gaza continues to surpass what was already an unprecedented height. As of the time of writing, the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza was 20,674, with more than 8,000 of those killed being children.

An additional 54,536 have been wounded by Israeli attacks.