Hamas says it is ready for ceasefire talks with Israel 'immediately' - which could see a 60-day truce and 10 hostages released from Gaza
Security officials in Tel-Aviv reportedly met tonight to discuss their next steps before Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington for talks on Monday with US President Donald Trump.
And it is believed that the Israeli cabinet have decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible deal, according to Israel's Channel 12 whose report cited a senior official.
It was unclear whether the delegation will fly to Qatar on Saturday or Sunday.
The move comes after Trump launched a renewed push to end nearly 21 months of war in Gaza - where the civil defence agency said a further 35 people were killed in Israeli military operations today.
'No decision has been made yet on that issue,' an Israeli government official said when asked about Hamas' s seemingly positive response to the latest ceasefire proposal.
The militant group said yesterday it was 'ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place' a US-backed truce proposal.
Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told the AFP news agency that the proposals included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
They said the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel's withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks but demanded guarantees that Israel 'will not resume its aggression' once hostages held in Gaza are freed.
When asked about Hamas's response aboard Air Force One, Trump said: 'That's good. They haven't briefed me on it. We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza.'
The war began with Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked an Israeli offensive in the territory that aimed to destroy Hamas and bring home all the hostages seized by Palestinian militants.
Previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States secured temporary halts in fighting and the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said today that top diplomat Badr Abdelatty held a phone call with Washington's enjoy to th Mid, Steve Witkoff, to discuss recent developments 'and preparations for holding indirect meetings between the two parties concerned to reach an agreement'.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said today that top diplomat Badr Abdelatty held a phone call with Washington's enjoy to th, Steve Witkoff, to discuss recent developments 'and preparations for holding indirect meetings between the two parties concerned to reach an agreement'.
Pictures of the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip are displayed on a table by a beach outside the US embassy branch office in Tel Aviv on July 4, 2025
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has also renewed calls for a negotiated agreement to bring the hostages home.
'This is the hour to bring about a comprehensive deal that will guarantee the return of the last hostage,' they said.
Recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the main point of contention said to be Israel's rejection of Hamas's demand for guarantees of a lasting ceasefire.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.
US and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.
The group said two of its US staff members were wounded 'in a targeted terrorist attack' at one of its aid centres in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis on Saturday, adding that reports indicated a pair of assailants 'threw two grenades at the Americans'.
The Israeli military said it had evacuated the injured.
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
Its operations have been marred by near-daily reports of Israeli fire on people waiting to collect rations.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said yesterday that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.
GHF chairman Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical leader allied to Trump, on Wednesday rejected calls for the lead role in Gaza aid distributions to revert to UN agencies, saying: 'We will not be shut down.'
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Israeli military operations killed 35 people across Gaza on Saturday.
The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people, who were mostly civilians.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,338 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers these figures reliable.
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