Gaza City: Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior member of the group said on Monday, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of war.
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 meditators, Hamas said it was ready for talks.
"The movement has submitted its response, agreeing to the mediators' new proposal. We pray to God to extinguish the fire of this war on our people," senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said on Facebook.
Earlier, a Hamas source said that the group accepted the proposal "without requesting any amendments".
Egypt said it and Qatar had sent the new proposal to Israel, adding "the ball is now in its court". Israel has yet to respond.
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 guarantees were offered to ensure implementation and pursue a permanent solution.
According to a report in Egyptian state-linked media Al Qahera, the deal proposed an initial 60-day truce, partial hostage release, release of some Palestinian prisoners and provisions to allow for the entry of aid.
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 has sparked international outcry as well as domestic opposition.
Out of 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war, 49 are still held in Gaza including 27, the Israeli military says, are dead.
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".
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". — AFP
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