Hamas says it is still reviewing a US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire
DEIR AL-BALAH: Hamas said Friday it was still reviewing a US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where 27 people were killed in new Israeli airstrikes, according to hospital officials.
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The ceasefire plan, which has been approved by Israeli officials, won a cool initial reaction Thursday from the militant group. But President Donald Trump said Friday negotiators were nearing a deal.
"They're very close to an agreement on Gaza, and we'll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow," Trump told reporters in Washington. Late in the evening, asked if he was confident Hamas would approve the deal, he told reporters: "They're in a big mess.
I think they want to get out of it."
US negotiators have not publicized the terms of the proposal. But a Hamas official and an Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said Thursday that it called for a 60-day pause in fighting, guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages, as it did in March.
In a terse statement issued a few hours before Trump spoke, Hamas said it is holding consultations with Palestinian factions over the proposal it had received from US envoy Steve Witkoff.
A United Nations spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, urged the parties to "find the political courage" to secure an agreement.
While changes may have been made to the proposal, the version confirmed earlier called for Israeli forces to pull back to the positions they held before it ended the last ceasefire.
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Hamas would release 10 living hostages and a number of bodies during the 60-day pause in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 100 serving long sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.
Each day, hundreds of trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter Gaza, where experts say a nearly three-month Israeli blockade, slightly eased in recent days, has pushed the population to the brink of famine.
"Negotiations are ongoing on the current proposal," Qatar's ambassador to the United Nations, Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani said Friday, referring to talks between her country, the United States and Egypt. "We are very determined to find an ending to this horrific situation in Gaza."
On Thursday, a top Hamas official, Bassem Naim, said the US proposal "does not respond to any of our people's demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine."
The uncertainty over the new proposal came as hospital officials said that 27 people had been killed Friday in separate airstrikes. A strike that hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 13, including eight children, hospital officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 12 people, including three women, were brought to Shifa Hospital on Friday from the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of two others were brought to a hospital in Gaza City.
Hospital officials also said Friday that at least 72 had been killed in Gaza during the previous day. That figure does not include some hospitals in the north, which are largely cut off due to the fighting.
Since the war began, more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children, have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages. Of those taken captive, 58 remain in Gaza, but Israel believes 35 are dead and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there are "doubts" about the fate of several others.
Some Gaza residents said their hope for a ceasefire is tempered by repeated disappointment over negotiations that failed to deliver a lasting deal.
"This is the war of starvation, death, siege and long lines for food and toilets," Mohammed Abed told The Associated Press in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. "This war is the 2025 nightmare, 2024 nightmare and 2023 nightmare."
Abed said he and his family struggle to find food, waiting three hours to get a small amount of rice and eating only one meal daily.
"It's heartbreaking that people are being starved because of politics. Food and water should not be used for political purposes," he said.
Another Gaza resident, Mohammed Mreil, said about the possibility of a truce that: "We want to live and we want them (Israelis) to live. God did not create us to die."
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