Palestinians and Israelis have expressed cautious optimism that a deal on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held there is close after 15 months of devastating war.
“I can’t believe I’m still alive to witness this moment,” 17-year-old Sanabel said in a voice message sent from Gaza City. “We have been waiting for this with bated breath since the first month [last] year.”
Sharon Lifshitz, whose elderly father is among the remaining hostages, said: “I’m trying to breathe. I’m trying to be optimistic. I’m trying to imagine that it’s possible that a deal will happen now and all the hostages will come back.”
A spokesman for Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that there were no major issues blocking a deal between Israel and Hamas and that the indirect talks in Doha were focused on “the final details of reaching an agreement”.
An Israeli government official said the talks had made “real progress” and had entered a critical and sensitive period, while Hamas said it was satisfied with the status of the talks.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the deal was “on the brink”.
Sanabel, who lives with her family in their partially destroyed house, told the BBC’s OS program that everyone in northern Gaza “feels happy, cheerful, optimistic to see their best friends, to see their families who have been displaced to the south of Gaza Strip, to start over”.
The teenager said she called her displaced best friend and talked about “what we would do when the war was over”, adding that she would initially try to “make up for every moment I missed seeing her”.
“But after I called her, there was a huge bomb in my area. It reminded me of [last ceasefire and hostage release deal] in November 2023. There were huge bombs and missiles [before it started]. I’m really afraid this will happen again.”
“In the last hours of this war, I don’t want to lose a single member of my family. I don’t want a ceasefire for a year or five months. I want a ceasefire for a long time – for the rest of our lives.”
Asmaa Tayeh, a young high school graduate who took refuge with her family in her grandparents’ house in al-Nasr neighborhood in the western part of Gaza, also said that people dared to hope again.
You can never imagine how excited and nervous people are here, she told the BBC. – Everyone is waiting as if they will only survive after the announcement.
Asmaa is from Jabalia, the largest urban refugee camp in Gaza, whose residents have been repeatedly forced to evacuate their homes by the Israeli army.
When the Israeli army launched a new ground offensive in Jabalia in October, Asma’s family was forced to flee once again.
Fierce fighting has been going on in Jabalija since then. In December, Asmaa said her entire area was “wiped out.”
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 2023 also spoke to the BBC about news that a ceasefire deal could be imminent.
Sharon Lifshitz is a British-Israeli artist and filmmaker who has not heard from her 84-year-old father Oded since the woman who was imprisoned with him was released during a week-long truce in November 2023.
“As far as we’re concerned, we know there’s going to be so much heartbreak. We know plenty [the hostages] they are no longer alive. We desperately want the return of the living first so they can return to their families. Each of them is a whole world,” she told the Today program.
She said her mother Yocheved – who was also abducted in the October 7 attack but was released weeks later – was skeptical about the chances of a deal but that “I feel a surge of optimism”.
Eyal Kalderon – the cousin of 54-year-old Ofer Kalderon, whose two children were among the 105 hostages freed from captivity in November – said in a voice note sent to BBC OS: “We hope that the deal will be concluded soon and we will get to the point where let’s hug Ofer, so that his four children hug him.”
“We want this deal to include all the hostages, all 98 hostages. We demand it. We just hope to see them all in Israel [territory].”
Lee Siegel – the brother of Keith Siegel, 64, whose wife Aviva was also released in November – insisted: “All the hostages must return home – those who are still alive, to work on rebuilding their lives and their families; they which are of the deceased, for a proper burial in the homeland.”
Some families of hostages who were not involved in the initial release expressed anger that their relatives could be left behind if the deal collapses at a later stage.
Ruby Chen’s son, Itay, was killed during the attack on October 7, 2023 and his body is being held in Gaza.
“Unfortunately, the prime minister is moving forward with a deal that does not include my son and the additional 65 hostages, where it is not known how my son will get out. And for most families, this deal is unacceptable,” he said. .
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces opposition from far-right ministers and some in his own party, who oppose the release of prisoners and a broader ceasefire agreement.
Sharon Lifshitz said most Israelis supported such a deal “for a very long time,” but that joint pressure from the administrations of outgoing US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump finally gave the Netanyahu government the “extra push” it needed.
“This deal appears to be very similar to the one that was on the table in July,” she added. “Many, many hostages have died since July. Soldiers, Palestinians. So much suffering.”
Speaking later on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was confident a majority in the Israeli government would support the deal.
Meanwhile, Blinken – nearing the end of his term as US Secretary of State – for the first time outlined the plan that the Biden administration wants to hand over to Trump for post-war Gaza.
It did not envisage immediate full control of Gaza by the Palestinian Authority (PA) – the entity created by the Oslo Accords that has limited authority in parts of the occupied West Bank.
Critically, Gaza’s security forces would be made up of personnel from other countries – most likely Arab states though he did not name them – alongside “vetted” Palestinian forces.
Blinken said, as before, that Hamas sought to provoke a regional war and derail US-led efforts to integrate Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Meanwhile, Israel, he said, continued its military campaign “past the point” of destroying Hamas’ military capabilities and killing its leaders responsible for the October 7 attack.
He suggested it was self-defeating, adding that the US estimated that Hamas recruited almost as many new militants as Israel killed.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s attack on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Since then, more than 46,640 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there. Most of the 2.3 million population have also been displaced, destruction is widespread, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter as the struggle to help those in need.
Israel says Hamas is still holding 94 hostages, 34 of whom are presumed dead. In addition, four Israelis were kidnapped before the war, two of whom are dead.
