Latest news with #hostages
BreakingNews.ie
32 minutes ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Hamas seeks amendments to Gaza ceasefire proposal
Hamas is seeking amendments to the latest US ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior official with the group has said, but US envoy Steve Witkoff called the response 'totally unacceptable'. The Hamas official said proposed amendments focus on 'the US guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces'. There were no details. Advertisement A separate Hamas statement said the proposal aims for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an ensured flow of aid. It said 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others would be released 'in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners'. Fifty-eight hostages remain and Israel believes 35 are dead. Mr Witkoff described a 60-day ceasefire deal that would free half the living hostages in Gaza and return half of those who have died. Advertisement He urged Hamas to accept the framework proposal as the basis for talks that he said could begin next week. Israeli officials have approved the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the nearly 20-month war. US President Donald Trump has said negotiators were nearing a deal.
South China Morning Post
40 minutes ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
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 US President Donald Trump's envoy rejected the group's response as 'totally unacceptable'. The Palestinian militant 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 by the group. '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,' Hamas said in a statement. The proposals would see 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. A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said that among 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.
CNA
an hour ago
- General
- CNA
Hamas seeks changes in US Gaza proposal; Witkoff calls response 'unacceptable'
CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Hamas said on Saturday (May 31) 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 militant 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 by the group. "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," Hamas said in a statement. The proposals would see 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. A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among 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. There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to the Hamas statement. 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 wrote in a posting 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 Programme 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 incident was the latest in a series that has underscored the shaky security situation hampering the delivery of aid into Gaza, following the easing of a weeks-long Israeli blockade earlier this month. 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 Programme 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. Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said the dire situation was being exploited by armed groups which were attacking some of the aid convoys. He said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a "systematic policy of starvation". Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centres 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 campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct 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.
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- General
- Khaleej Times
Hamas response to ceasefire offer 'totally unacceptable', says US envoy
The US envoy to the Middle East on Saturday criticised Hamas over its response to a US-proposed ceasefire deal, with the militant group saying it would free 10 living hostages from Gaza. "It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward," Steve Witkoff wrote on X. "Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week. "That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire," he added.
BBC News
an hour ago
- General
- BBC News
Hamas makes hostage pledge but demands changes to US Gaza ceasefire plan
Hamas responded to a US ceasefire proposal by saying it is prepared to release 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 dead hostages in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners, while requesting some amendments to the group repeated its demands for a permanent truce, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and guarantees for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid. None of these are in the deal on the was neither an explicit rejection nor a clear acceptance of the US terms, which Washington says Israel has has not officially responded to this latest statement from Hamas - but sources quoted in Israeli media said Hamas had in effect rejected the proposal. In a statement, Hamas said it had submitted its response to the US draft proposed by Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle a proscribed terror group in the US, UK and EU, said it was insisting on a "permanent ceasefire" and "complete withdrawal" of Israeli forces from the Gaza group demanded a sustained flow of aid for Palestinians living in the enclave, and said it would release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in exchange for "an agreed upon number" of Palestinian prisoners in Hamas now finds itself in the most complex and difficult position it has faced since the war intense pressure from 2.2 million people living in the worst conditions in their history and from the mediators, the movement is unable to accept an American proposal that is, by all accounts, less generous than previous offers it has rejected multiple times, the most recent being in that time, senior Hamas official and head negotiator Khalil al-Hayya stated unequivocally that the movement would not agree to partial deals that fail to secure a complete and permanent end to the Hamas also finds itself unable to reject the latest US offer outright, fully aware that Israel is preparing to escalate its ground offensive in movement lacks the military capacity to prevent or even seriously resist such an between these two realities, Hamas, in effect, responded to the US proposal not with an answer - but with an entirely new full details of the US plan have not been made public and are unconfirmed, but these key points are reportedly included:A 60-day pause in fightingThe release of 28 Israeli hostages - alive and dead - in the first week, and the release of 30 more once a permanent ceasefire is in placeThe release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead PalestiniansThe sending of humanitarian aid to Gaza via the UN and other agenciesThe terms on offer were the ones Israel could accept - the White House made sure of that by getting Israel's approval before passing the proposal to is unlikely that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be willing to negotiate the changes Hamas is under pressure to bring the hostages home and has said he is willing to accept a temporary ceasefire to do the Israeli government has always insisted on the right to return to hostilities, despite Hamas's core demand for guarantees that the temporary truce be a path to ending the has said the war will end when Hamas "lays down its arms, is no longer in government [and] its leaders are exiled from the Gaza Strip".Defence Minister Israel Katz was more blunt this week. "The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the 'Witkoff Deal' for the release of the hostages - or be annihilated," he on Saturday, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said 60 people people were killed and another 284 injured in the past 24-hours in Israeli does not include numbers from hospitals located in the North Gaza Strip Governorate because of the difficulty of accessing the area, it launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 54,381 people have been killed in Gaza since then, including 4,117 since Israel resumed its offensive on 18 March, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
