US statement on 'ceasefire in Gaza': Has an agreement been reached?

A senior US official evaluated the latest status of the ceasefire process in Gaza and the details of the negotiations during a press briefing held via teleconference.

The US official explained that the agreement proposal currently on the table largely overlaps with the text that Hamas had previously agreed to in July.

The official stated that there are 18 sections in the agreement text, 14 of which have been agreed upon and are identical to the previous text, one section concerns technical details, and the remaining 3 sections contain details regarding the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages held by Hamas.

Noting that there are still topics that need to be negotiated in the sections regarding the prisoner exchange, the US official said, "Essentially, 90 percent of this (ceasefire) agreement has been agreed upon."

Stating that the death of 6 Israeli hostages last weekend has complicated the negotiation process to a certain extent and that they must acknowledge this, the official said that there are currently fewer hostages than before, which has caused disappointment on both the US and Israeli sides.

Despite this, the official stated that significant progress has been made on the prisoner exchange and that they believe this issue can be fully resolved.

The US official said, "The prisoner exchange is one of the fundamental components of this agreement and negotiations are currently ongoing, but Hamas needs to be involved in this process, otherwise we cannot move forward."

PHILADELPHI CORRIDOR DISCUSSIONS

On the other hand, emphasizing that another main topic still under negotiation is whether Israeli soldiers will remain in the Philadelphi Corridor, the US official recalled that the first phase of the 3-stage agreement includes a clause for Israel to "withdraw from densely populated areas" and that the corridor is a subject of debate in this context.

Stating that Israel wants to keep a certain number of its soldiers in the Philadelphi Corridor for "security" reasons, the senior US official assessed, "The agreement does not mention the Philadelphi Corridor. What the agreement says is that (Israel) should withdraw from densely populated areas. The debate here began over whether the Philadelphi Corridor is a densely populated place, which is essentially a road between Gaza and the Egyptian border. The Israelis have developed a proposal over the last few weeks that would significantly reduce their military presence along the corridor, which is actually technically consistent with the agreement."

Arguing that Israel reducing the number of soldiers in the corridor and keeping a certain portion along the corridor in return is "consistent with the agreement," the US official stated that, in contrast, Israel still needs to make some adjustments.

Emphasizing that discussions on whether Israeli soldiers will remain along the Philadelphi Corridor continue alongside the issue of the exchange of prisoners and hostages, the US official noted that negotiations are continuing intensively with both Israel and the Hamas side through Egypt and Qatar in order to resolve these issues.

News Source: AA