TRUCE PROPOSAL
The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff had “submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed”.
Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal.
Hamas sources said last week that the group had accepted a US-backed deal, but on Thursday political bureau member Bassem Naim said the new version meant “the continuation of killing and famine … and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war”.
“Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,” he added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt added that discussions were “continuing” with the militants.
Naim on Friday reiterated that a review was ongoing, while a source close to Hamas said one of the group’s main concerns was the lack of American guarantees that talks towards a permanent ceasefire would continue.
According to two sources close to the negotiations, the new proposal involves a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days, and the release of five living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the first week, followed by a second exchange the next week.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
As of Thursday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed major operations on Mar 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
