Hamas gives positive response to US-mediated Gaza ceasefire: Reuters
The response follows the unveiling of what US President Donald Trump labeled a "final proposal" for a 60-day ceasefire, an initiative reportedly rooted in the Witkoff Plan and coordinated with Qatar, Egypt, and the US administration.
According to Israeli reports, the deal includes phased Israeli military withdrawals, the release of captives and bodies, and a framework for extended negotiations toward a permanent agreement.
While "Israel" has not pledged to end its war on Gaza, it has reportedly expressed conditional approval to resume dialogue beyond the initial truce period. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained silent, even as pressure mounts from the international community over his government's ongoing destruction of Gaza's infrastructure and refusal to commit to a full ceasefire.
"We have handed the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, our response to the ceasefire proposal," a Hamas official told Reuters. "The Hamas response is positive and I think it should help and facilitate reaching a deal," added another official involved in the talks.
The proposed ceasefire would see a phased release of captives held by the resistance, beginning with 8 live captives on the first day and additional releases on days 50 and 60, alongside the return of 18 bodies. In exchange, "Israel" would begin withdrawing its forces from northern and southern Gaza under UN and Red Crescent oversight. Technical teams would work on boundary demarcations, while humanitarian aid would begin flowing immediately.
Longer-term arrangements, set to begin on day one of the truce, include defining terms for further prisoner exchanges, negotiating a permanent ceasefire, determining Gaza's future security framework, and establishing international guarantees. Mediators would ensure compliance and could extend the truce if substantial progress is made.
Crucially, Hamas has demanded that any agreement must include an end to Israeli aggression, a full military withdrawal from Gaza, and unobstructed humanitarian access, objectives it has described as necessary for justice and Palestinian self-determination.
Hamas announced it has completed internal consultations as well as discussions with other Palestinian factions regarding the latest ceasefire proposal from international mediators. The group confirmed that it has submitted its official response, which it described as positive, to the mediators involved.
According to the statement, Hamas is ready to immediately engage in serious negotiations on the implementation mechanism of the proposed framework aimed at ending Israeli aggression on Gaza.
President Trump confirmed on Friday that the US is waiting for final responses. "We hope it's going to happen," he said. "We want to get the hostages out." Trump is expected to meet Netanyahu in Washington on Monday, though it remains unclear whether the Israeli leadership will endorse the terms, particularly as it continues to demand Hamas's disarmament—an unrealistic condition according to Palestinian officials, given the siege and occupation.
Hamas, for its part, has maintained that it is ready to negotiate in good faith and has held internal consultations to ensure its response reflects Palestinian national priorities.
"Our goal is to secure an agreement that ends the aggression, ensures the occupation's withdrawal, and delivers urgent humanitarian aid to our people," the movement stated.
Read more: Palestinian resistance launch deadly ambushes against Israeli forces
As Gaza faces unspeakable devastation and the death toll continues to climb, Hamas's response marks a potential opening—one rooted in a strategic attempt to secure justice and relief for a besieged population.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
L'Orient-Le Jour
9 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
US envoy urges accountability for church attack in West Bank village
The U.S. ambassador to Israel on Saturday visited a Christian village in the occupied West Bank and urged accountability for an attack on an ancient church, which residents have blamed on Israeli settlers. In early July, the village of Taybeh was hit by an arson attack in the area of the ruins of the Byzantine-era Church of Saint George, which dates back to the fifth century. Residents blamed settlers for the assault, which comes as violence soars in the West Bank, and last week saw an American-Palestinian man killed near Ramallah. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate for Israel, said his trip to Taybeh aimed to "express solidarity with the people who just want to live their lives in peace, to be able to go to their own land, to be able to go to their place of worship." "It doesn't matter whether it's a mosque, a church, a synagogue," he told journalists. "It's unacceptable to commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship." "We will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh or anywhere be found, be prosecuted, not just reprimanded. That's not enough," he said. "People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs not just to other people, but that which belongs to God." In the villages and communities around Taybeh, Palestinian authorities reported that settlers had killed three people and damaged or destroyed multiple water sources in the past two weeks alone. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence has surged in the territory since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the Gaza war. Since then, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 957 Palestinians, including many militants, in the West Bank, according to health ministry figures. Over the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official figures. Huckabee, who has for years been an outspoken supporter of Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories, on Tuesday demanded an aggressive investigation and consequences after settlers beat to death a Palestinian-American in the West Bank. It was a sign of rare public pressure against U.S. ally Israel by President Donald Trump's administration.
LBCI
15 hours ago
- LBCI
South Syria violence death toll rises to 940: Monitor
The death toll from violence in Sweida province, heartland of Syria's Druze minority, has risen to 940 since last weekend, a war monitor said, despite the announcement of a ceasefire. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 182 of whom were "summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel." They also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians who were "summarily executed by Druze fighters." Another 15 government troops were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory said. AFP
LBCI
15 hours ago
- LBCI
EU welcomes Israel-Syria ceasefire, urges protection of civilians
The EU on Saturday welcomed a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Syria and Israel, saying it was "appalled" by the deadly sectarian violence in Syria's southern Druze heartland that prompted Israeli strikes. "Now is the time for dialogue and for advancing a truly inclusive transition. Syria's transitional authorities, together with local authorities, bear the responsibility to protect all Syrians without distinction," the European Union's diplomatic service said in a statement. It also called for all perpetrators behind "grave violations" of international law to be held accountable. AFP
