Palestinians and Israelis who dare to hope that a Gaza deal is close

Palestinians and Israelis have expressed cautious optimism that a deal for a Gaza ceasefire 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,” Sanabel, 17, said in a voice memo sent from Gaza City. “We’ve been waiting for this with bated breath since the first month of (last) year.”

Sharon Lifshitz, whose elderly father is among the other hostages, said: “I’m trying to breathe. I try to be optimistic. I’m trying to imagine that it’s possible that a deal could happen now and all the hostages would be returned.”

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday 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 state of the talks.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the deal was “right on the brink”.

Sanabel, who lives with her family in their partially destroyed home, 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 south of Gaza Undress to start over”.

The teenager said she called her best friend, who had been kicked out of her home, and they discussed “what we would do if the war ended”, adding that she would start by trying to “make up for every moment that I lost to see her”.

“But after I called her, there was a huge bomb in my area. It reminded me of (the last ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages) in November 2023. There were huge bombs and rockets (before it started). I’m really scared that this will happen again.”

“In the final hours of this war, I do not want to lose any of my family members. 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 Taye, a young graduate student sheltering with her family in her grandparents’ house in Gaza City’s western al-Nasr neighborhood, also said people are daring 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 survive only after the announcement.

Asmaa is from Jabalia, the largest urban refugee camp in Gaza, whose residents have been forced to evacuate their homes repeatedly by the Israeli military.

When the Israeli army launched a new ground offensive in Jabalia in October, Asma’s family was forced to flee again.

Fierce fighting has been going on in Jabalia ever since. In December, Asma said her entire area had been “destroyed”.

Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 2023 also spoke to the BBC about the 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 held with him was released during the week-long ceasefire in November 2023.

“For us, we know there will be so much heartbreak. We know that quite a few of (the hostages) are no longer alive. We desperately need the return of the living first so they can return to their families. they’re the world,” she told the Today program.

She said her mother, Jocheved – who was also abducted in the Oct. 7 attack but was released weeks later – was skeptical about the chances of a deal, but that “I feel the gaps of optimism that are coming.”

Eyal Calderon – a cousin of Ofer Calderon, 54, two of whose children were among the 105 hostages freed from captivity in November – said in a voice note sent to BBC OS: “We hope the deal will be done soon and we will get to the moment we hug Ofer, his four children hug him.”

“We want this deal to include all the hostages, all 98 hostages. We insist on this. We just hope to see them all on Israeli (territory).”

Lee Siegel – the brother of Keith Siegel, 64, whose wife Aviva was also freed in November – insisted: “All hostages must return home – those who are still alive to work on rebuilding their lives and families; those who have died, for a proper burial in their homeland.”

Some families of hostages not included in the initial releases expressed anger that their relatives could be left behind if the deal fails at a later stage.

Ruby Chen’s son, Itai, was killed in the attack on October 7, 2023. and his body is kept in Gaza.

“The prime minister is unfortunately going ahead with a deal that doesn’t include my son and 65 additional hostages where it’s 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 cabinet ministers and some in his own party who object to the prisoner release and the broader ceasefire agreement.

Sharon Lifshitz said the majority of Israelis had supported such a deal for a “very long time” but that combined pressure from the administrations of outgoing US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump had finally given the government of Netanyahu is necessary.

“This deal appears to be very much the deal 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 – laid out for the first time the plan 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 rule over parts of the occupied West Bank.

Critically, Gaza’s security forces will consist of personnel from other countries – most likely Arab states, though he does not name them – alongside “vetted” Palestinian forces.

Blinken said, as before, that Hamas was trying to provoke a regional war and derail US-led efforts to integrate Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Meanwhile, he said, Israel had pursued its military campaign “beyond the point” of destroying Hamas’ military capacity and killing its leaders responsible for the October 7 attack.

He suggested it was self-defeating, adding that according to the US, Hamas had recruited almost as many new fighters as Israel had 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 another 251 hostage.

More than 46,640 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry. Most of the 2.3 million people have also been displaced, with widespread destruction and severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter due to the struggle to get aid to those in need.

Israel claims 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are believed to be dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were kidnapped before the war, two of whom are dead.