A picture of the Qassam Brigades handing over Israeli prisoners during the previous truce in Gaza (Al Jazeera)

Informed sources revealed to Al Jazeera that Israel had agreed to the terms of a preliminary framework for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners with the Palestinian resistance, and discussions took place about it in Paris.

The sources stated that Israel stipulated a gradual return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, with the exception of those of military service age.

She added that Tel Aviv accepted the request of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to increase the entry of aid and temporary homes into the Strip and bring in heavy machinery and equipment, in addition to repositioning its military forces outside crowded areas and stopping aerial reconnaissance for 8 hours a day.

The sources added that Israel agreed to release 400 Palestinian prisoners, including a number of people with high sentences, in exchange for the release of 40 Israeli prisoners, women and the elderly.

It reported that Israel agreed to release the prisoners it arrested after their release in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011.

For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that the full return of civilians to the northern Gaza Strip will not take place until after the return of all Israeli detainees in Gaza.

The Israeli War Council had sent a negotiating delegation and granted it broad powers, to Paris, to resume negotiations on an exchange deal for prisoners and detainees, according to what official Israeli media reported a few days ago.

Tel Aviv estimates the number of detainees held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza at about 134 Israelis, including soldiers, while it holds at least 8,800 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official Palestinian and Israeli sources.

Qatari mediation - with Egyptian-American support - succeeded in reaching a temporary humanitarian truce on November 24, which lasted for a week, during which 240 Palestinian prisoners were released from occupation prisons in exchange for the release of more than 100 detainees held by the resistance in Gaza, including about 80 Israelis.

Source: Al Jazeera