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In a significant shift, Israeli negotiators have signaled that Israel may launch a bunch of high-profile Palestinian prisoners serving prolonged jail phrases in alternate for the liberty of a number of the Israeli hostages nonetheless being held in Gaza, officers say.
The change in Israeli negotiating technique, which has not been introduced publicly, is important as a result of it may assist persuade Hamas to launch Israeli troopers captured in October and comply with a deal that will quickly pause the preventing within the Gaza Strip.
Worldwide efforts to succeed in a truce had stalled over Israel’s refusal to launch Palestinians convicted of homicide and to decide to a everlasting cease-fire, two of the measures that Hamas is holding out for.
Now, Israeli negotiators have privately agreed to a U.S. proposal that will see 5 feminine Israeli troopers launched for 15 Palestinians convicted of main terrorism expenses, based on two officers with data of ongoing mediation efforts. The officers spoke on situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions, which got here throughout a gathering with officers from Egypt, Qatar and america in Paris final week.
The thought is seen as the idea for negotiations with Hamas, which has not responded to the proposal. The Israeli authorities had beforehand prevented such a concession partly as a result of the discharge of Palestinians convicted of main acts of terrorism, even in alternate for Israeli hostages, would appeal to vital home criticism.
Requested in regards to the negotiators’ place, the workplace of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, declined to remark.
Different parts of a attainable deal — together with the size of a cease-fire and Hamas’s demand for a whole withdrawal of Israeli army forces from Gaza — are nonetheless beneath dialogue.
Nonetheless, the concept may add momentum to the talks, as officers race to finish a deal earlier than the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in about two weeks. An Israeli delegation was anticipated to reach in Qatar as quickly as Monday to proceed negotiations with worldwide mediators. In response to one of many officers, Israeli intelligence officers consider that Hamas’s chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, has change into extra amenable in latest weeks to a deal that, in idea, would enable for less than a brief truce — hoping that it could change into everlasting as soon as in place.
The thought is a part of a wider U.S. proposal that will enable for the discharge of 40 of the roughly 100 hostages who have been captured within the Oct. 7 Hamas-led assaults and believed nonetheless to be alive in Gaza. They embody 5 feminine Israeli troopers and civilians, together with sick, wounded and older individuals. It doesn’t embody male Israeli troopers, whose launch would be the topic of a separate negotiation, one of many officers stated.
Seven of the 35 civilian prisoners set to be launched are ladies that Israel stated ought to have been launched over the past cease-fire and prisoner swap in November. For the discharge of these seven ladies, Israel has proposed releasing 21 Palestinian detainees, the identical three-to-one ratio noticed in the course of the earlier alternate.
It might launch extra Palestinians for every of the remaining hostages, together with six for each civilian man age 50 and older and 12 for each sick or wounded man. For every of the 5 feminine Israeli troopers in captivity, Israel would launch three “heavy” prisoners — these believed accountable for main assaults — and 15 others.
Israel has usually agreed to lopsided prisoner exchanges in conflicts with Hamas. In 2011, it launched greater than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to safe the liberty of 1 captured soldier, Gilad Shalit.
Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting from Washington.
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