Report: Negotiations for Five-Year Ceasefire With Hamas
Israel and Hamas are negotiating a proposal for a five-year ceasefire, according to the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper.
Hamas officials have been meeting in Qatar, one of the mediators along with Turkey, to discuss the matter. U.N. special envoy to the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov drew up an outline for the two sides to consider, Israel Radio said.
The proposal is said to provide for Israeli approval of construction of a floating seaport off the Gaza coast, to be operated under Israeli or international supervision. In return, Hamas would agree to suspend attacks on Israel for five years, with the possibility of extending it.
He also said Gaza residents were furious about the Israeli blockade, the closure of Rafah Crossing to Egypt (although it has been temporarily opened since), Hamas itself, and the international community that has failed to follow through on its commitments to help rehabilitate the Strip.
Meanwhile, it was also reported on Tuesday that Hamas has been smuggling massive quantities of building material for terror tunnels from the Sinai into Gaza.
The Egyptian authorities decided on Tuesday to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Sinai open until Friday, allowing Hamas to circumvent the Israeli blockade, bringing across thousands of tons of cement into the Strip for reconstruction of the tunnels, Ynet said.
Egypt has only recently started opening the Rafah border crossing again after closing it shut during Operation Protective Edge last summer.
Palestinian sources say that since the Rafah crossing has been opened, about 4,000 tons a day of cement has passed through it unsupervised. 10,000 tons were already transported in by Monday night, and in the next two days, Hamas and Egypt have agreed to allow at least 8,000 tons more into the terrorist-run enclave.
By comparison, over the course of a full month, only 7,000 tons of cement enter the Gaza Strip from Israel under joint supervision by the IDF, the U.N. and the Palestinian Authority. Only material which has been authorized for civilian purposes is allowed in.
This article appeared in print on page 30 of edition of Hamodia.
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