KEY POINTS
- The truce proposal follows a renewed diplomatic push by Egypt, Qatar, and the US
- 10 Israeli hostages would be released
- Netanyahu says Israel will agree to a deal only if all hostages are released
- Egyptian FM Badr Abdelatty calls the situation in Gaza “beyond imagination”
- At least 11 Palestinians killed on Monday by Israeli forces
- Amnesty International accuses Israel of deliberate starvation
CAIRO, Egypt: Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza without requesting amendments, a source from the Palestinian group told AFP Monday, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of Israeli bombardment campaign.
Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have struggled to secure a lasting truce in the conflict, which has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
But after receiving a new proposal from mediators, Hamas said it was ready for talks.
“Hamas has delivered its response to the mediators, confirming that Hamas and the factions agreed to the new ceasefire proposal without requesting any amendments,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said mediators were “expected to announce that an agreement has been reached and set a date for the resumption of talks”, adding that guarantees were offered to ensure implementation and pursue a permanent solution.
Another Palestinian official earlier said mediators had proposed an initial 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches.
The proposal comes more than a week after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to expand the war into Gaza City and nearby refugee camps, which have sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition.
Confronted and destroyed
According to AFP, the plan envisaged a 60-day ceasefire “during which 10 Israeli hostages would be released alive, along with a number of bodies”.
US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!”
“The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be.”
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will agree to an agreement in which all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war”.
Beyond imagination
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was visiting “to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible”.
Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where UN agencies and aid groups have warned of famine, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement.
“The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination,” he said.
Egypt said on Monday it was willing to join a potential international force deployed to Gaza, but only if backed by a UN Security Council resolution and accompanied by a “political horizon”.
Deliberate starvation
On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 11 people across the territory on Monday, including six killed by Israeli fire in the south.
Rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza and “systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life”.
Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into Gaza, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 62,004 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
