Sources say Hamas agrees to ceasefire, deal but Witkoff rejects claim
The proposal provides for a 60-day ceasefire, the release of 10 Israeli hostages and the entry of 1,000 aid trucks into Gaza.
In addition, according to the information provided, the United States would guarantee that comprehensive negotiations on a permanent ceasefire begin. Sources also said that Hamas had committed to halting "any development of its military capabilities."
Israel is demanding the group's complete disarmament.
However, a well-connected correspondent for the US news site Axios said Witkoff had rejected the reports.
Barak Ravid quoted Witkoff as saying that what he had seen from Hamas was "disappointing and completely unacceptable."
Witkoff reportedly called on Hamas to agree to the deal on the table, Ravid said in a report on the news portal walla. Israel has already agreed to the deal, Ravid added.
According to Israeli sources, at least 20 hostages are still being held alive in the Gaza Strip, with the fate of three further abductees unclear. In addition, the bodies of 35 hostages are being held.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
From Temple Mount, Ben-Gvir says 'entire Gaza Strip must be occupied'
After Ben-Gvir's visit, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying that Israel's status quo on the Temple Mount "has not changed and will not change" National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ascended the Temple Mount on Sunday to pray, where he called for Israeli sovereignty over Gaza, he announced in a social media post. 'The horror videos released by Hamas are meant to pressure Israel,' Ben Gvir said, referring to new footage released by Hamas on Saturday showing hostage Evyatar David in a tunnel being forced to dig his grave. 'I say this precisely from here - from the Temple Mount, where we've proven sovereignty is possible - that a clear message must be sent: The entire Gaza Strip must be occupied, sovereignty declared, Hamas uprooted, and voluntary emigration promoted. Only then will we return the hostages and win the war.' Ben-Gvir and hundreds of other Jews were visiting the Temple Mount to mark Tisha B'Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. The status quo on the Temple Mount, established after 1967, allows Israel to oversee security while the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf administers the site. Non-Muslims, including Jews, may visit during limited hours but are strictly prohibited from praying there. The status quo's aim was to maintain religious balance and prevent conflict, though it has often been tested by political and security tensions. Ben-Gvir's number two, Negev and Galilee Minister Yizhak Wasserlauf, also visited the site on Sunday and posted a video of himself praying along with dozens of other people. Ben-Gvir joined by Amit Halevi, Sharren Haskel MKs Amit Halevi (Likud) and Sharren Haskel (New Hope-United Right) also ascended the Temple Mount to mark Tisha B'Av. 'Minhelet Har Habayit' (The Temple Mount Directorate), an NGO that provides services to visitors to the site, said on Sunday that some 3,527 people had visited the site throughout the day. According to the NGO, this set a record for the number of visitors in one day. After Ben-Gvir's visit, the Prime Minister's Office issued a short statement saying that "Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change." The PMO had to put out nearly identical statements numerous times since the current government took office in late 2022, due to repeated statements by Ben-Gvir that the status quo had changed. "Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change." For the first time, more than three thousand Jews ascended to pray on the Temple Mount in one day, with 3,527 Jews ascending for Tisha B'Av prayers on the Temple Mount, according to the Temple Mount administration. MKs Amit Halevi (Likud) and Sharren Haskel (New Hope-United Right) also ascended the Temple Mount to mark Tisha B'Av. In March, the Shin Bet wrote in the conclusions of its internal investigations into the failure of the October 7 massacre, that repeated declarations about a change in the status quo on the Temple Mount contributed to Hamas's decision to launch the attack, which it called 'Al Aqsa Flood'. Jordan's Foreign Ministry strongly condemned what it called the "storming of the al-Aqsa Mosque," saying that it was "a flagrant violation of international law" and "an unacceptable provocation." The ministry then added that Israel has no sovereignty over the al-Aqsa Mosque. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Blinken: Palestinian state recognition 'a rebuke to Hamas,' but hostages, ending war take priority
Recognition of a Palestinian state is necessary, not only if Israel wishes to resume normalization with Saudi Arabia. But, Blinken pointed out, recognition must be based on predetermined conditions. Former US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said that the recognition of a Palestinian state is a rebuke to Hamas rather than a reward, but must come secondary to the matters of returning the hostages, preventing famine in Gaza, and ending the war, he wrote in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. 'Israel long ago achieved two of its three stated objectives in Gaza,' Blinken wrote in WSJ, referring to Israel's goals of destroying Hamas' military capabilities and killing those responsible for the October 7 massacre. Israel's goal to return the remaining hostages, he said, will not be accomplished by following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to occupy Gaza, with Netanyahu's plan simply lengthening the conflict and amplifying anguish on both sides. Blinken noted that key Arab states are willing to help Palestinians govern and rebuild Gaza while preventing Hamas from reemerging into power, but will 'only [do so] if there's a credible political path toward Palestinian self-determination.' Conditions of recognizing a Palestinian state Recognition of a Palestinian state is necessary, and not only if Israel wishes to resume normalization with Saudi Arabia. But, Blinken pointed out, recognition must be based on predetermined conditions. 'No one,' Blinken said, 'should expect Israel to accept a Palestinian state that is led by Hamas or other terrorists, that is militarized or has independent armed militias, that aligns with Iran or others that reject Israel's right to exist, that educates and preaches hatred of Jews or Israel.' He suggested a timeline of three years and deemed the United Nations Security Council as the most suitable candidate to judge whether or not Palestinians uphold the aforementioned conditions. 'America's veto would reassure Israelis,' he noted. Meanwhile, he pushed, Israel must address the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and implement a withdrawal plan. Israel must also stop allowing settlements to expand in the West Bank, demolishing Palestinian homes there and in east Jerusalem, and hold extremist violence on all sides accountable. Israel would also need to 'support the reform of the Palestinian Authority instead of trying to undermine it.' Until then, he stated, Israel cannot maintain the idea that Palestinians will tolerate being a 'non-people without national rights.' As well, Palestinians must understand that ideas of a state 'from the river to the sea' are unfeasible. 'No one is going anywhere, whatever the delusions of extremists on both sides.'
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Israeli air strikes rock Gaza as Hamas chief heads to Cairo for ceasefire push
Israeli strikes on Gaza City killed at least 11 people overnight, medics said Monday, as Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya heads to Cairo for talks to revive a stalled US-backed ceasefire plan. The latest push comes amid mounting civilian death tolls and deep divisions over terms for ending the war. Israeli planes and tanks kept bombarding eastern areas of Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people, witnesses and medics said on Tuesday, with Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya due in Cairo for talks to revive a US-backed ceasefire plan. The latest round of indirect talks in Qatar ended in deadlock in late July with Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas trading blame over the lack of progress on a US proposal for a 60-day truce and hostage release deal. Israel has since said it will launch a new offensive and seize control of Gaza City, which it captured shortly after the war's outbreak in October 2023 before pulling out. Militants regrouped and have waged largely guerrilla-style war since then. It is unclear how long a new Israeli military incursion into the sprawling city in north Gaza, now widely reduced to rubble, could last or how it would differ from the earlier operation. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to expand military control over Gaza, expected to be launched in October, has increased a global outcry over the widespread devastation of the territory and a hunger crisis spreading among Gaza's largely homeless population of over two million. It has also stirred criticism in Israel, with the military chief of staff warning it could endanger surviving hostages and prove a death trap for Israeli soldiers. It has also raised fears of further displacement and hardship among the estimated one million Palestinians in the Gaza City region. Read moreHundreds of Israeli ex-security officials call on Trump to end Gaza war Witnesses and medics said Israeli planes and tanks pounded eastern districts of Gaza City again overnight, killing seven people in two houses in the Zeitoun suburb and four in an apartment building in the city centre. In the south of the enclave, five people including a couple and their child were killed by an Israeli air strike on a house in the city of Khan Younis and four by a strike on a tent encampment in nearby, coastal Mawasi, medics said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports and that its forces take precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Separately, it said on Tuesday that its forces had killed dozens of militants in north Gaza over the past month and destroyed more tunnels used by militants in the area. More deaths from starvation, malnutrition Five more people, including two children, have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said. The new deaths raised the number of deaths from the same causes to 227, including 103 children, since the war started, it added. Israel disputes the malnutrition fatality figures reported by the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The war began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas-led militants stormed over the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures, in the country's worst ever security lapse. Israel's ground and air war against the Islamist Hamas in Gaza since then has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, left much of the enclave in ruins and wrought a humanitarian disaster with grave shortages of food, drinking water and safe shelter. Read moreNearly 12,000 children under five face acute malnutrition in Gaza, WHO says Netanyahu, whose far-right ultranationalist coalition allies want an outright Israeli takeover and re-settlement of Gaza, has vowed the war will not end until Hamas is eradicated. A Palestinian official with knowledge of the ceasefire talks said Hamas was prepared to return to the negotiating table. However, the gaps between the sides appear to remain wide on key issues including the extent of any Israeli military withdrawal and demands for Hamas to disarm, which it has ruled out before a Palestinian state is established. An Arab diplomat said mediators Egypt and Qatar have not given up on reviving the negotiations and that Israel's decision to announce its new Gaza City offensive plan may not be a bluff but served to bring Hamas back to the negotiating table. (FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
