British and American hostage negotiators are pressuring the Hamas terrorist organization to accept an “extraordinarily generous” ceasefire agreement that is currently up for their consideration.
The proposal would reportedly involve a 40-day suspension of hostilities and the release of security prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli captives, with priority given to females and the infirm.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia that the terms had been handed to Hamas leadership before they were to arrive in Cairo on Monday for further talks.
“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel, and in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas,” Blinken said of the new measure.
The British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, described the concessions at the same gathering as “a very generous offer of a sustained 40-day cease-fire, the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, in return for the release of these hostages.”
In addition to the current overture, sources in Jerusalem have said that they are open to negotiating a “period of sustained calm” as a compromise to Hamas’s demands of a total cessation of fighting.
A Hamas delegation left the Egyptian capital on Monday, indicating that they would return shortly with an official response to the offer.
