UPDATE - Hamas responds ‘positively’ to Gaza cease-fire draft: Palestinian source

UPDATES WITH DETAILS

By Ibrahim Sipahi

ISTANBUL (AA) – Hamas has submitted a positive response to mediators regarding a draft agreement for Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange, a Palestinian source told Anadolu on Wednesday.

“Contrary to the Israeli narrative, Hamas gave the mediators a positive response to the draft deal after receiving maps outlining the Israeli withdrawal from city centers in Gaza,” the source said.

“Israel has caused delays by failing to deliver detailed maps of their planned troop withdrawals from city centers as agreed upon in the first phase,” the source added.

An informed Israeli source also confirmed that Hamas has given a positive response to the proposed cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement, according to Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

KAN said that Hamas leadership in Gaza has agreed to the deal and that it could be signed on Wednesday.

Israeli media reported that Israel’s Security Cabinet will convene on Thursday to discuss the anticipated Gaza deal.

Qatar said on Tuesday that Gaza cease-fire negotiations are in their "final details" and that announcing an agreement is “imminent.”

Hamas also confirmed that a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement is in “its final stages.”

Israel currently holds more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, while it is estimated that 98 Israelis are detained in Gaza. Hamas said that many Israeli captives have been killed in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes.

Israel has continued a genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 46,700 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul