Signs of imminent ceasefire deal for Gaza
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and at 14 hours GMT on Tuesday 14th January, these are our main stories. There are signs a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza could be agreed soon. A US Justice Department report says Donald Trump would have been convicted of illegally trying to overturn his election defeat in 2020, and desperate efforts continue in South Africa to rescue hundreds of illegal minors. also in this podcast.
He was this very, very eminent art historian who really was the most influential art historian in Britain. He was admired across the world. At the same time, of course, he had been a Soviet spy. He had handed over thousands of documents.
How much did the late Queen Elizabeth really know about her top art expert? MUSIC Time and again over the course of the conflict in Gaza, hopes have emerged that a ceasefire deal to end the suffering of civilians on both sides is within reach. Today, hopes have risen once again after mediators reported a midnight breakthrough at talks in Qatar. This was the response of people on the streets of Gaza.
All the news and leaks confirm that there is a truce. We really hope it happens, because our people are in desperate need to take a break from this big burden and this wound that hit every house in Palestine and every house in the Gaza Strip. The first thing we will do is thank God that we are still alive for this moment and that we reached the end. I ask God for it to really be the end of the war so that we can regroup and rearrange our houses.
Caution remains the watchword given the failure of all previous attempts to end the violence and secure the release of hostages. But this time, just maybe, there seems to be more substance to the hope. A spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majid al-Ansari, said a deal was close but not done yet.
During the past months there were underlying issues, major issues between the two parties unresolved. These issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks and therefore we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed. We especially appreciate the roles of both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration in the talks in the past couple of weeks. They were working in tandem together here in Doha and beyond in the region to make sure that a deal happens. And we appreciate statements by both President Biden and President-elect Trump that were helpful.
I've been talking to our correspondent in Jerusalem, Amir Nada.
This time, it does feel like we're getting to a place which we haven't been before with a much higher level of detail, with positive signals that just keep coming from all parties. And then this incoming President Trump, who seems to be using the leverage that he has to push the parties closer towards a deal. So it's not there yet. But it does feel much different from previous rounds, even if the detail of the deal isn't much different to what we've seen in previous rounds before. It feels like the pressure on the parties to get it done is much higher.
So it's the deadline that's maybe forcing the issue. But what has emerged about the outline of the deal? What would happen?
So we understand from sources that have been speaking to the BBC that there would be a first stage of six weeks where it would begin with an exchange of Israeli hostages that are being kept in Gaza with Palestinian prisoners who are in prison in Israel. As that would happen, Palestinians that have been displaced in Gaza through the war will be able to return home, primarily up to the north of Gaza. And there's a crucial element of the second stage as well, which involves the withdrawal of Israeli troops from places that they are in now, allowing sort of big population areas, cities to be populated again by Palestinians.
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