Sources close to the negotiations to stop the war in the Gaza Strip and exchange prisoners revealed on Saturday that Israel no longer objects to the release of Fatah Central Committee member Marwan Barghouti, but insists on releasing him to the Gaza Strip and not the West Bank.

Hamas is expected to submit Marwan Barghouti's name on the list for the first phase of the prisoner exchange.

The draft agreement presented to Hamas stipulated that the movement would appoint 20 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment for every Israeli female soldier released in the first phase of the deal.

According to the sources, the Hamas movement and the factions in Gaza have between 3 and 5 female recruits, which means that between 60 and 100 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment will be released in the first phase of the exchange.

Israel insists on deporting a number of prisoners to the Gaza Strip or abroad.

The release of Marwan Barghouti constitutes a milestone in Palestinian political life, given his overwhelming popularity in the Fatah movement and the Palestinian street. Various public opinion polls in Palestine also show that Barghouti wins any presidential election, regardless of his competitor.

According to local sources, the Hamas movement is moving to approve the Egyptian proposal to stop the war in Gaza, in conjunction with the presence of the movement’s delegation in Cairo.

Israel refused to release Marwan Barghouti in the deal with Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

In June 2006, Hamas succeeded in kidnapping soldier Shalit on the Gaza Strip border, and the two parties entered into negotiations that lasted 5 years, which ended with the release of Shalit in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

Stages of the Gaza Agreement

In the first phase of the agreement, during which there will be a ceasefire for 40 days, 33 Israeli civilians, male and female soldiers, will be released in exchange for about a thousand Palestinian prisoners, in addition to the return of displaced civilians to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, and the withdrawal of the Israeli army away from residential areas and the roads that the displaced will take. The returnees, according to the sources, provided that the sixteenth day of the agreement will witness the start of negotiating the conditions for sustainable calm in Gaza.

In the second phase, which will last 42 days, negotiations will be completed regarding sustainable calm and the exchange of remaining Israeli detainees, including soldiers and officers, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons after agreeing on their numbers and categories.

In the third phase, which lasts 42 days, an agreement is made on Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip after the exchange of bodies and remains between the two parties.