Israel protests calling for Gaza peace deal shut main Tel Aviv freeway
Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Family members of Israeli hostages demanding that the government make a deal to free them blocked a major freeway in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after Hamas signed onto a joint Egyptian-Qatari peace plan.
Authorities broke up the women's group demonstration on the Ayalon Highway after protestors, including some relatives of hostages who have been released or killed, blocked traffic and held up signs saying "Conquering Gaza = Sacrificing the hostages and soldiers" and chanting "Their time is running out, a deal is on the table."
The direct action came two days after a nationwide strike and demonstrations saw road blockages across the country in the largest protests so far demanding a cease-fire and a deal to release the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Hamas said in a statement Monday night that it and other Palestinian groups had accepted "without any amendments" a new proposal from Egyptian and Qatari mediators for a cease-fire and hostage release deal with Israel.
Regional diplomats who hastily put the deal together in an effort to head off a pending Israeli military offensive to take control of the whole of Gaza, said they were still awaiting an official response from Jerusalem.
Qatar said the deal was "almost identical" to one proposed by Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy to the region.
That plan involved a 60-day cease-fire during which Hamas would return about 50% of the hostages in two phases in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, alongside efforts to make the cease-fire permanent and secure the release of the remaining captives from Gaza.
Speaking to reporters in Doha on Tuesday, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari cautioned that while the deal was "98%" the same as Witkoff's, the "devil was in the details."
"I won't go into the details of the language that is on the table right now. But what I can say is that it is very close, almost identical to what was there on the table. It is within the confines of the Witkoff plan. It's a continuation of that process. Obviously, it's in the details where the devil lies," he said.
Israel acknowledged Hamas' acceptance of the latest plan but said it wanted to see a comprehensive agreement that would bring an end to the war.
"Israel's position hasn't changed -- release of all hostages and fulfilment of other conditions defined for ending the war," a senior official said.
The positions were reversed from the initial Witkoff plan which was rejected by Hamas -- because it did not guarantee any cease-fire would become permanent -- but accepted by Israel.
However, Hamas official Taher al-Nunu insisted that while the new proposal on the table was only a partial agreement, it paved the way for a comprehensive deal and that negotiations for a permanent cease-fire would begin on day one.
"We hope that the 60 days of cease-fire will be sufficient to conclude a final agreement that will completely end this war," he said.
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