Hamas has accepted a new cease-fire proposal for Gaza, a senior member of the group said on Monday, after a new diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of war.
The mediators of Egypt and Qatar, supported by the United States, had trouble guaranteeing a lasting truce in the conflict, which sparked a disastrous humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
But after receiving a new proposal from the meditators, Hamas said it was ready for interviews.
“The movement submitted its answer, accepting the new proposal of the mediators. We pray to God to put out the fire of this war against our people,” said Bassem Naim, senior Hamas, on Facebook.
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Earlier, a source from Hamas told AFP that the group had accepted the proposal “without requesting any modification”.
Egypt said that and Qatar had sent the new proposal to Israel, adding that “the ball is now in its courtyard”. Israel has not yet answered.
A Palestinian source familiar with the talks said that the mediators should “announce that an agreement has been concluded and set a date of recovery of talks”, adding guarantees offered to ensure implementation and continue a permanent solution.
According to a report in the Egyptian media linked to the al-Qahera state, the agreement proposed an initial truce of 60 days, a release of partial hostages, the release of certain Palestinian prisoners and arrangements to allow the entry of aid.
The proposal comes more than a week after the Israel security firm approved the plans to extend the war to Gaza City and to nearby refugee camps, which sparked an international outcry and the national opposition.
Out of 251 hostages taken during the October 2023 attack in Hamas which sparked the war, 49 are still detained in Gaza, including 27, the Israeli soldiers say they are dead.
Earlier, an Islamic source of jihad said that “the remaining captives would be released in a second phase”, with negotiations for a wider settlement to follow.
They added that “all factions are favorable” to the Egyptian proposal and Qatari.
American president Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “We will only see the return of the hostages remaining only when Hamas is confronted and destroyed !!!”
“The sooner it takes place, the best will be successful.”
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “will accept an agreement in which all hostages are released at the same time and according to our conditions to end the war”.
Meanwhile, in a scene now familiar in Gaza, images of AFP from the southern city of Khan Yunis showed crowds of kneeling people on the wrapped bodies of their loved ones who were killed looking for help the day before.
The Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdeatty, visiting Rafah’s border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said Prime Minister Qatari Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani visited “to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on both parties to conclude an agreement as soon as possible”.
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Alluding to disastrous humanitarian conditions for more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations agencies and aid groups warned against famine, Abdeatty underlined the urgency of reaching an agreement.
“The current situation on the ground goes beyond the imagination,” he said.
Egypt said on Monday that it was willing to join a potential international force deployed in Gaza, but only if it was supported by a resolution of the United Nations Security Council and accompanied by a “political horizon”.
On the ground, the Gaza Civil Defense Agency said the Israeli forces had killed at least 11 people across the territory on Monday, including six killed by Israeli fires in the South.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said that it was “not aware of any victim following an FDI fire” in the southern areas reported by the Civil Defense.
Media restrictions in Gaza and the difficulties of accessing the expanses of the average Palestinian territory AFP are unable to independently check the tolls and details provided by the Civil Defense Agency or the Israeli army.
The Amnesty International rights group has accused Israel of having adopted a “deliberate policy” of famine in Gaza and of “systematically destroying health, well-being and the social fabric of Palestinian life”.
Israel, while strongly restricting aid to Gaza, has repeatedly rejected the allegations of deliberate famine.
Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the death of 1,219 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
The offensive of Israel killed more than 62,004 Palestinians, most civilians, according to figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza managed by Hamas that the United Nations consider reliable.
