Palestinians and Israelis daring to hope a Gaza deal is close

The Palestinians and Israelis have expressed cautious optimism that an agreement to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages there is close after 15 months of devastating war.

“I can’t believe I’m still alive to witness this moment,” 17-year-old Sanabel said in a statement sent from Gaza City. “We have been waiting for this with bated breath since the first month of [last] a year.”

Sharon Lifshitz, whose elderly father is among the remaining captives, said: “I’m trying to breathe. I’m trying to have hope. to come back.”

The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar said on Tuesday that there are no serious problems that prevent the agreement between Israel and Hamas and that the direct talks in Doha are focused on “the final agreement”.

The head of the Israeli government said that the talks had made real progress and had entered a difficult and difficult period, while Hamas said that it was satisfied with the progress of the talks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a deal was “close”.

Sanabel, who lives with her family in a partially damaged house, told the BBC OS program that everyone in northern Gaza is “happy, happy, hoping to see their close friends, to see their families who were displaced in southern Gaza. Build, to start again” .

The teenager said he had called his best friend who had fled and discussed “what we would do after the war”, adding that he would start by trying to “make up for every moment I missed seeing him”.

“But when I called him, a big bomb exploded in our area. This reminded me [last ceasefire and hostage release deal] in November 2023. There were large bombs and missiles [before it started]. I am afraid that this will happen again.

“In the last hours of this war, I don’t want to lose one of my family members. I don’t want to end the war for one year or five months. I want to end the war for a long time – for everyone else. life.”

Asmaa Tayeh, a young graduate who lives with her family in her grandmother’s house west of Gaza City near al-Nasr, said people are trying again for hope.

“You can’t imagine how excited and scared people are here,” he told the BBC. “Everyone is waiting to see if they survive the announcement.”

Asmaa is from Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in Gaza, whose residents have been forced from their homes several times by the Israeli army.

When the Israeli army launched a new offensive in Jabalia in October, Asmaa’s family was forced to flee again.

Fierce fighting has taken place in Jabalia since then. In December, Asmaa said her entire community had been “annihilated”.

Relatives of those captured by Israel in Gaza since October 2023 have also been speaking to the BBC about the possibility of a ceasefire agreement.

Sharon Lifshitz is a British-Israeli artist and filmmaker who has not heard from her 84-year-old father Oded since the woman he was imprisoned with was released during a week of ceasefire in November 2023.

“For us, we know there’s going to be a lot of heartbreak. We just know a little bit [the hostages] he is no longer alive. We are desperate to get them back alive so they can go back to their families. Each of them is a whole country,” he told the Today program.

He said his mother, Yocheved – who was also kidnapped in the 7 October attack but was released weeks later – was skeptical about the chances of an agreement but that “I feel the cracks of hope coming”.

Eyal Kalderon – the cousin of 54-year-old Ofer Kalderon, two of whose children were among the 105 people released from captivity in November – said in a statement sent to BBC OS: “We hope that the deal will be closed soon. And we will reach a time when We are embracing Ofer, that his four sons are embracing him.”

“We want the agreement to include all the hostages, all the 98 hostages. We want this. We hope to see them all in Israel. [territory].”

Lee Siegel – the brother of Keith Siegel, 64, whose wife Aviva was released in November – insisted: “All the hostages must come home – the ones who are still alive, to work on rebuilding their lives and their families; the dead, to be buried in their own country.”

Some hostage families who were not included in the initial talks were angry that their relatives could be left behind if the deal fails in the future.

Ruby Chen’s son, Itay, was killed on 7 October 2023 and his body is kept in Gaza.

“The Prime Minister is unfortunately moving forward with an agreement that does not include my son and 65 other kidnappers, where it is not known how my son will get out. And for many families this agreement is unacceptable,” he said. .

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under fire from right-wing ministers and some in his own party, who reject the release of prisoners and a ceasefire agreement.

Sharon Lifshitz said that the majority of Israelis supported such an agreement “for a long time”, but that the combined pressure from the administrations of US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump finally gave the Netanyahu government “another push” it needed.

“It looks like the deal is the best it’s ever been in July,” he added. “Many, many slaves have died since July. Soldiers, Palestinians. So much suffering.”

Speaking on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was confident that the majority in the Israeli government would support the deal.

Meanwhile, Blinken – nearing the end of his term as US secretary of state – laid out for the first time the plan that the Biden administration wants to give to Trump in Gaza after the war.

It did not envisage full control of Gaza by the Palestinian Authority (PA) – an organization created by the Oslo accords that has limited control over other parts of the West Bank.

In short, the security forces in Gaza will consist of personnel from other countries – mainly Arab countries although he did not name them – along with “tested” Palestinian soldiers.

Blinken said, as he has said before, that Hamas wanted to start a regional war and disrupt US-led efforts to unite Israel with its Arab neighbors.

In the meantime, Israel, he said, carried out its military campaign “more and more” to destroy Hamas’s military strength and kill its leaders who launched the October 7 uprising.

He said this was self-defeating, adding that the US believed that Hamas had recruited new terrorists that Israel had killed.

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s attack on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.

More than 46,640 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the region’s Hamas-run health ministry. Many of the 2.3 million people have also been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as a result of efforts to get aid to those in need.

Israel says 94 of those captured are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are believed to have died. In addition, there are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom died.