Gaza ceasefire proposals 'to include release of ten hostgaes'

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00:00The latest round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations still underway. Hamas is seeking guarantees that

00:06a new U.S. proposal will lead to the war's end, while Israeli officials said prospects for reaching

00:13a ceasefire deal and hostage deal appear high. It's been nearly 21 months since the war between

00:20Israel and Hamas began. Let's cross to our correspondent Noga Taranpolski in Jerusalem

00:26for the latest. Noga, what new details have we gleaned on the conditions of the ceasefire?

00:36We've gleaned a number of important details in the last 24 hours or so. And one of those details

00:44is external. It's simply the fact that what we are hearing from Qatari and Egyptian media about

00:52their mediation efforts and what we're hearing here on the Israeli side, for the first time,

00:57it seems to accord. We appear to be talking about a 60-day ceasefire with the possibility of renewal

01:05and U.S. guarantees that Israel will not return to war as long as talks are ongoing. And in that

01:13period, we're speaking of Hamas releasing 10 living Israeli hostages out of the 50 who are being held

01:21in three different release dates, still to be determined, and the bodies of about 18 dead Israeli

01:30hostages. The assumption in Israel is that somewhere between 20, 22, maybe 23 of the hostages

01:37are still alive. Although news that the Israeli cabinet received yesterday from the chief of

01:43staff of the army indicates that some of those thought to be alive in the last few weeks may no

01:48longer be alive, that they're being very severely tortured. While obviously these details that we're

01:55hearing offer some hope for a ceasefire, for humanitarian aid being able to get into Gazans,

02:02and for the release of these hostages, I want to quote the Israeli radio station Galei Tzahal that referred

02:10to this as a torture agreement. The reason being that at least 10 to maybe 13 living hostages who have

02:19already been held for 636 days and are apparently in catastrophic condition will still be held indefinitely

02:29at the end of those 60 days. Noga, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister,

02:36he's visited the Kibbutz Niroz for the first time since the October 7th attacks. Can you tell us more

02:44about this visit and its significance? Yes, let's start with Kibbutz Niroz, which is a special place.

02:53It has an important place in the history of the State of Israel. It was one of the outposts that

02:58fought for Israeli independence against the Egyptian army back in 48. And the entire community,

03:06the entire commune is defined as a botanic garden. It's an internationally renowned oasis,

03:13and especially with succulents and cactuses. So it's a very special place, special in many ways.

03:20The Prime Minister visited it today for the first time entering through the back gate. This is a

03:26community that was completely ravaged on October 7th, 2023. It lost more than one quarter of its

03:34inhabitants to murder and to kidnapping. And there have been a long series of complaints for almost

03:41two years now about why the Prime Minister has never come to visit. He came today, he slunk in through a

03:48side entrance in his armoured vehicle. He was received from what we hear politely by those residents who agreed to

03:56meet him. But there were protests outside the front gate. And some of the residents, among them, most

04:03famously, I think, Uma Kedem, a very renowned fashion designer in Israel, who lost her daughter, her son-in-law,

04:11her co-grandmother, her in-law, and her three grandchildren on October 7th, who were all murdered.

04:18She led a protest demanding that the Prime Minister not be allowed to step foot.

04:23The community is still completely wrecked. And we're still waiting. He just left. We're still

04:28waiting to hear any more news that will emanate from that visit.

04:31Right. Just an example of the very mixed feelings around the war and the ceasefire negotiations.

04:38Noga, I want to also ask about the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza, because it is

04:43incredibly bleak. A UN expert called it apocalyptic today. And Gaza's health ministry says at least 118

04:51Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in just the last 24 hours. What is going on here? Is

04:58this intensity of strikes somehow part of an Israeli strategy? Because international groups are calling

05:03it a genocide. Yes, some are. I think that one of the main things to say is that we don't really know

05:14what's going on. The Israeli army is being very cagey. It does detail to us every day, every few hours,

05:21specific operations it engages in. But we don't have details. And there appears to be, to the best of my

05:27knowledge, no real strategy in Gaza except to continue wrecking Hamas infrastructure and maybe

05:37the rest of Gaza and to continue to strike whoever is left of the Hamas leadership. But the army,

05:44via the same chief of staff I mentioned before, the Israeli army is demanding that the Israeli

05:50government make a decision. The chief of staff of the army said that there's nothing more for the army

05:55to do. This is what we're hearing. He said yesterday to the cabinet that there's nothing more for the

05:59Israeli army to do in Gaza, either to engage in a vast new phase of this war or to aim for a diplomatic

06:08agreement. And that is what the White House appears to hope to impose on Netanyahu. Among the 118 killed

06:17that we heard today from the Hamas authorities in Gaza, we also heard that at least 12 were killed

06:24trying to get humanitarian aid from the hubs of this Gaza humanitarian foundation, an Israeli

06:31established outfit that has really, I would say, been a disaster in getting not enough aid and

06:40leaving these routes open for people to be targeted by Israeli soldiers, by Hamas, maybe by marauding

06:48gangs as they're trying to get help. We heard from the Israeli army three days ago now that they were

06:53going to review and change those routes, how people can get to try and get aid. But we have not heard of any concrete yet.

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