Hamas says it has delivered a “positive response” to mediators on the latest proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal put forward by the US.
The Palestinian armed group said in a statement that it was “seriously ready to enter immediately into a round of negotiations”, but has not confirmed whether it will accept the terms of the proposal.
A senior Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC that Hamas accepted the general framework but had requested several amendments, including a US guarantee that hostilities will not resume if talks on ending the 20-month war fail.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday there could be a deal on a Gaza ceasefire by next week.
It was good that Hamas said it had responded in “a positive spirit” to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal, Trump added.
On Tuesday, Trump said that Israel had accepted the “necessary conditions” for a 60-day ceasefire, during which the parties would work to end the war.
He also urged Hamas to accept what he described as “the final proposal”, warning the group that “it will not get better – it will only get worse”.
The plan is believed to include the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages by Hamas and the bodies of 18 other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Fifty hostages are still being held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
The proposal also reportedly says that sufficient quantities of humanitarian aid would enter Gaza immediately with the involvement of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The senior Palestinian official said Hamas was demanding that the aid be distributed exclusively by the UN and its partners, and that the controversial distribution system run by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) end immediately.
Another key amendment demanded by Hamas was about Israeli troop withdrawals, according to the Palestinian official.
The US proposal is believed to include phased pull-outs from parts of northern and southern Gaza. But the official said Hamas was insisting that troops returned to the positions they held before the last ceasefire collapsed in March, when Israel resumed its offensive against the group.
The Palestinian official said Hamas also wanted a US guarantee that Israeli air and ground operations would not resume if negotiations on a permanent ceasefire failed.
The proposal is believed to say that negotiations on ending the war would begin on day one.
However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out ending the war until all of the hostages are released and Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are destroyed.
BBC News
