Posted on 01/11/25
| News Source: Arutz-7
US President-elect Donald Trump's pick for special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will visit Israel and meet top officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Israel will complete its withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, on the last day of the a ceasefire-hostage deal's implementation.
In the first stage in such a deal, Israel will partially withdraw and reduce its forces in the area, and in the second stage, the IDF will remain in a number of supervisory posts along the route, and on the last day of the third stage completely withdraw its forces.
According to the report, Hamas has sent a new message to Israel, which moved Israel's position, and negotiations have reached the "closest" point to an agreement.
Foreign sources said that Israel has expressed willingness to reach significant compromises even in the initial "humanitarian" stage of the agreement. Both parties in principle agree to hold negotiations for the second stage of a deal parallel to the implementation of the first stage.
Recently, Arab reports said that Hamas will soon pass Israel a list of living hostages which it is able to release. Israeli sources said that receipt of the list will allow significant progress towards reaching a deal.