'A 3-stage Gaza truce plan being examined'

Hamas is reviewing plans for a three-stage truce with Israel which foresee a weeks-long halt to the Gaza war, a source in the Palestinian militant group told AFP on Wednesday.

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The Islamist movement said earlier this week it was mulling proposals drawn up by mediators in Paris for a second truce nearly four months since the war began.

While a November pause to the fighting lasted a week, the latest accord aims to pave the way for an initial six-week halt to the fighting.

Over that period Israel would release between 200 and 300 Palestinian prisoners who are not deemed high-security detainees, in exchange for 35 to 40 hostages held in Gaza, the Hamas source close to Egyptian and Qatari mediators said.