00:00 A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas appears to be taking shape but nothing is
00:05 imminent for now.
00:07 Both sides downplaying a statement from US President Joe Biden that the truce could go
00:12 into effect from Monday.
00:14 The deal, which is still being ironed out in Qatar, would include a six-week pause in
00:18 fighting and the release of up to 40 hostages in exchange for at least 300 Palestinian prisoners
00:25 held in Israeli jails.
00:27 We can now go across to France 24's Andrew Hillier standing by in Jerusalem for us.
00:31 Andrew, good afternoon.
00:32 Are we close to a deal?
00:37 Well both Israeli officials and Hamas appear to have poured cold water on talk of a truce
00:45 deal coming together in the next few weeks.
00:48 They both distanced themselves from those comments by Joe Biden.
00:52 The Hamas leader saying that his side was showing flexibility but that it was still
00:58 prepared to fight.
00:59 And there are some I think major sticking points here.
01:02 For a start, first and foremost, Hamas has always insisted on a full Israeli withdrawal
01:07 from the Gaza Strip as a precondition to any truce deal.
01:11 That of course for the Netanyahu government is simply out of the question.
01:15 Hamas also wants internally displaced people to be able to return to their homes or at
01:20 least what's left of their homes in northern Gaza.
01:24 Israel for its part wants Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel but just yesterday there
01:29 were sirens that sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
01:34 Also I think disagreements with regards to which Israeli hostages would be released first.
01:42 Israel reportedly wants female soldiers to be amongst the first to be released as part
01:47 of any deal.
01:48 The problem is that Hamas sees any Israeli soldier as a key bargaining chip so they're
01:53 very likely to push back on that.
01:55 So clearly I think still a long way to go if both sides are to bridge the gap that separates
02:02 them and somehow clinch a deal.
02:04 As these negotiations take place over in Qatar, Andrew, one thing we have to bear in mind
02:09 is the domestic pressure at home in Israel on authorities to do whatever they can to
02:15 bring the hostages home.
02:18 Yeah, absolutely.
02:21 I mean you have to bear in mind that it's been almost five months now since those hostages
02:26 were kidnapped and of course their families have been living in utter despair.
02:30 Today families of the hostages organized a rally, a march, setting off from the site
02:35 of the Nova music festival, of course one of the sites that was targeted by Hamas militants
02:40 during their attacks on October 7th.
02:43 They'll be marching all the way to Jerusalem.
02:44 They're set to arrive here on Saturday.
02:46 They'll be joined by former hostages who were released from captivity and of course the
02:51 aim is just to keep up the pressure on the Israeli government to do whatever it can to
02:55 secure the release of those hostages still being held in Gaza.
03:00 Just yesterday I spoke to someone who's friends with two of the hostages believed to be held
03:05 in Gaza and she told me she couldn't believe it had almost been five months since they
03:10 had been kidnapped.
03:11 So of course whenever there's any talk of a truce that raises hopes here.
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