As Gaza deal looms, will Netanyahu choose Trump or Israel’s far right?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be finding it difficult to play the same stalling game with President-elect Donald Trump he has been playing for months with President Joe Biden.
TEL AVIV — As of Tuesday, a deal for the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas and a gradual Israeli military pullout from Gaza appears as close as it has ever been.
According to Israel's public broadcaster Kan, the talks are now focused on remaining technical points. An announcement on reaching the deal could come as soon as Tuesday evening.
The emerging agreement being hammered out in Qatar calls for the release of 33 Israeli hostages over a six-week period, as a first phase. An estimated 66 others, unlikely to have survived over 15 months in captivity, could be released in the second phase. Discussions on the second phase are planned to begin on the 16th day of the first.
According to Kan, three Israeli hostages will be released on the first day of the first phase. After that, the Israeli military will start withdrawing from urban zones. Gazans will be allowed to move from the south of the Strip to the north along the coastline. The military will withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border in the second phase.
