Hamas Seeks Changes in US Gaza Proposal, Witkoff Calls Response ‘Unacceptable'
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump's envoy rejected the group's response as "totally unacceptable."
The Palestinian group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group's response to the proposals from Trump's special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as "positive" but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while his government had agreed to Witkoff's outline, Hamas was continuing its rejection of the plan. "Israel will continue its action for the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas," he said in a statement.
Hamas said in a statement: "This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip."
The document containing Hamas' response, seen by Reuters, demands that Gaza residents be allowed unrestricted travel through the Rafah crossing and that the movement of goods be resumed.
It calls for restoring Gaza's infrastructure, including electricity, water and sanitation, and seeks permission for building materials needed to repair hospitals, health centers, schools, and bakeries across the strip.
Under the Hamas plan, which the document says is guaranteed by Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, Israel would stop all military activity in Gaza when the ceasefire agreement goes into effect, and aid would be delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels.
The Palestinian group said it would provide information about the number of living and deceased Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for details about Palestinian prisoners detained since Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023. "President Trump will personally announce the ceasefire agreement. The US and President Trump are committed to ensuring serious negotiations until a final agreement is reached,' the document says.
The proposals envisage a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim denied any rejection of Witkoff's proposal but said Israel's response was incompatible with what had been agreed. He accused the U.S. envoy of acting with "complete bias" in favor of Israel.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among the amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas. Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas' conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas' response, Witkoff posted on X: "It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week."
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas' Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Netanyahu said earlier this week.
Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group's deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Program trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
"After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by," the WFP said in a statement.
'A MOCKERY'
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
"The aid that's being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch," Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main UN relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Program and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centers and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Instead, it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007. Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.
The campaign has laid waste large areas of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians and destroying or damaging most of its buildings, leaving most of the population in makeshift shelters.
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