Reports: Hamas Accepts Draft Ceasefire and Hostage Release Deal

Leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization have reportedly accepted a draft agreement that would bring a ceasefire in Gaza if Hamas agrees to release its Israeli hostages.

The deal was brokered by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, and was approved by Israeli and Hamas negotiators meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday.

Neither party had formally accepted the draft agreement as of Tuesday morning, but Hamas issued a statement advising other Palestinian factions that “progress” has been made toward a “clear and comprehensive agreement.” 

Some of the Israeli hostages are held by Hamas allies, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), so those groups would have to support any ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

A spokesman for Qatar’s foreign minister told reporters that Tuesday was “the closest point to a deal reached over the past months,” while a Palestinian source told Reuters the agreement could be finalized later on Tuesday “if all goes well.”

“We are close, we are not there yet,” a less enthusiastic Israeli official said.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told Breitbart News on Tuesday that a deal became possible “because of Israel’s achievements” militarily, which pushed Hamas to make concessions.

The draft agreement was reportedly written on Monday morning after a “midnight breakthrough” in negotiations. According to outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden, the agreement would “free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”

Biden’s Middle East envoy Brett McGurk attended the talks in Qatar, as did President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

The “midnight breakthrough” appears to have involved persuading Hamas to relent on its demand for a permanent end to the Gaza war and complete Israeli withdrawal, in exchange for an incredibly lopsided trade of terrorist prisoners for Israeli hostages.

A Palestinian source told Reuters the draft agreement requires Israel to immediately free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in trade for just 33 hostages, mostly including women, children, men over 50, and hostages who are sick or injured. The Palestinians to be released by Israel include convicted murderers, but not terrorists who were directly involved in the October 7 attack.

If the first stage of prisoner release goes well, the agreement calls for Hamas to free the rest of its Israeli hostages, while Israel would begin a “phased withdrawal” from parts of Gaza. Displaced Gaza residents would return home, but they would be searched for weapons. Sick and injured people would be allowed through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt in greater numbers, while more humanitarian aid would be delivered to Gaza.

Unresolved questions as of Tuesday morning included who would administer the Gaza territory after the ceasefire goes into effect – a rather obvious sticking point, given that Hamas refuses to relinquish power, and Israel refuses to leave Hamas in charge – and who will protect humanitarian aid shipments from looters and Hamas operatives. 

It is also possible that fewer Hamas hostages remain alive than the terrorist group is prepared to admit, which could have a major impact on the processing of a ceasefire deal. The Israelis say 98 victims kidnapped on October 7 remain unaccounted for, but believe many of them died in captivity.

Israel’s Hostage Families Forum is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon to stress that any agreement must include “the return of every last hostage, with a predetermined method and timeline.”

Numerous Israeli government and media sources said the election of Donald Trump was a major factor in the ceasefire breakthrough. The National said Trump’s threats of “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released before his inauguration “re-energized the negotiations.”

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani on Friday, then flew to Israel for a meeting with Netanyahu. Shortly after this meeting, Netanyahu dispatched Mossad director David Barnea to Doha to “continue advancing a deal to release our hostages.”

Barnea arrived in Doha on Sunday, accompanied by the heads of Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security agency) and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) hostage rescue unit. The big “breakthrough” followed shortly afterward.

The Biden team would clearly like to have a ceasefire before Inauguration Day as well, giving them some room to claim credit for the outcome. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) on Friday, outgoing CIA Director William J. Burns said the Biden administration “worked very hard” on a deal, and would continue working “right up until January 20th.”

“And I think the coordination with the new administration on this issue has been good. And President-elect Trump has made clear his interest in trying to get a deal, you know, before his inauguration,” he added.

The Israeli Right is reportedly unhappy with the emerging ceasefire deal, accusing Trump of leaning too hard on Netanyahu to get something done before his inauguration.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich denounced the deal as a “catastrophe” and “surrender” to Hamas after more than a year of hard fighting.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir went even further, saying on Monday he has used his influence to thwart previous deals that would have been too advantageous for Hamas, and he was ready to bring down the Netanyahu government if the new deal went through.

Ben Gvir called on Smotrich to “join forces with me” and “work against the nascent deal,” which he called “terrible” because it would erase Israel’s “war achievements,” as well as condemning many of the remaining Hamas hostages to death, because the terrorist group would no longer have any reason to keep them alive.

“This is not a ‘hard choice’ that must be made to return the kidnapped. It is a conscious choice at the cost of the lives of many other Israeli citizens, who, unfortunately, will pay the price of this deal with their lives,” he said.

“I call on the Prime Minister to come to his senses and take steps that will lead to the defeat of Hamas and the release of our hostages without abandoning Israel’s security,” Ben Gvir said, recommending a tough strategy that would include cutting off all “humanitarian aid, fuel, electricity, and water to Gaza.”

Ben Gvir was, in turn, assailed by opposition politicians and some hostage families for admitting he used his influence to undermine previous ceasefire proposals.

“For more than a year I have been saying that ‘they are not reaching a hostage deal for political reasons’ and everyone tells me that this cannot be, that it’s shocking, and how could I say such a thing – and today Ben Gvir puts out a video and says to the camera, without blinking, that is the terrible truth,” said opposition leader Yair Lapid.