Hamas source says group agrees to latest Gaza ceasefire proposal share.google

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The proposal from regional mediators would see Israeli hostages released in two batches during a 60-day truce, according to a Palestinian official.
Hamas has agreed to the latest proposal from regional mediators for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, a source in the Palestinian armed group has told the BBC.

The proposal from Egypt and Qatar is said to be based on a framework put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff in June.

It would see Hamas free around half of the 50 remaining hostages – 20 of whom are believed to be alive – in two batches during an initial 60-day truce. There would also be negotiations on a permanent ceasefire.

It is unclear what Israel's response will be, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said last week that it would only accept a deal if "all the hostages are released in one go".
In a video released after the reports of Hamas's approval emerged, Netanyahu did not comment directly but said that "from them you can get one impression – Hamas is under immense pressure."

The Israeli military's chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, meanwhile said it was at a turning point in the 22-month war, with the "focus on enhancing the strikes against Hamas in Gaza City".

It came as witnesses on the ground in Gaza City reported that Israeli tanks backed by air and artillery strikes had made a surprise advance into the southern Sabra neighbourhood, and surrounded schools and a UN-run clinic sheltering hundreds of displaced people.

Later this week, the Israeli cabinet is expected to approve the military's plan to occupy Gaza City, where intensifying Israeli strikes have already prompted thousands of people to flee.

Netanyahu announced Israel's intention to widen its offensive and conquer all of Gaza – including the areas where most of its 2.1 million Palestinian residents have sought refuge – after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire deal broke down last month.
A Hamas delegation led by the group's chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, has been in Cairo since last week meeting mediators who see a window of opportunity for a new agreement.

On Monday morning, a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the delegation was reviewing a new ceasefire proposal that it had received the previous day.

Qatar's Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, also visited the Egyptian capital to "apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible", Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said.

Speaking during his own trip to the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching a ceasefire to alleviate the deep humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. He said the current situation on the ground there was "beyond imagination".
Israel's prime minister has said the war will only end once all the hostages are released and Hamas disarms. He also wants Gaza to be demilitarised, kept under Israeli security control, and run by an administration not linked to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

Hamas has called for a comprehensive deal that would see the hostages it is holding exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It says it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is created.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 62,004 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed global food security experts have warned that the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" due to food shortages.

Gaza's health ministry reported on Monday that another five people, including two children, had died as a result of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours, raising the total number of such deaths since the start of the war to 263.