WASHINGTON, Jan 23, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Israel has proposed to Hamas via Qatari
and Egyptian mediators a pause in fighting of up to two months as part of a
deal to free all the hostages being held in Gaza, the US news site Axios
reported Monday.

The report, citing unnamed Israeli officials, said the deal would take place
in multiple stages, the first of which would see the release of women, men
over 60 and those in critical medical condition.

Subsequent phases would involve the release of women soldiers, younger
civilian men, male soldiers and the bodies of dead hostages.

The officials said the deal would also see the release of an as yet
undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel, but not
all of them.

The proposal does not include promises to end the war, but it would involve
Israeli troops reducing their presence in major cities in Gaza and gradually
allowing residents to return to the territory's devastated north.

The officials said the deal was expected to take around two months to
implement.

Israeli outlet Ynet also reported on the proposal, citing unnamed sources,
and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had alluded to it in a meeting
with hostages' families on Monday.

News of the proposal comes as US media said the White House's coordinator for
the Middle East, Brett McGurk, was due in the region for meetings in Egypt
and Qatar aimed at securing a new hostage exchange deal.

About 250 hostages were taken during Hamas's bloody October 7 attacks, and
Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza.

That includes the bodies of at least 28 dead hostages, according to an AFP
count based on Israeli data.

The October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel,
mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli
figures.

In response, Israel launched a relentless offensive that has killed at least
25,295 people in Gaza, around 70 percent of them women, children and
adolescents, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry.