New Israel-Gaza ceasefire plan proposed, Hamas supply says

A senior Palestinian official accustomed to Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations has advised the BBC that Qatari and Egyptian mediators have proposed a brand new components to finish the struggle in Gaza.

In accordance with the official, it envisages a truce lasting between 5 and 7 years, the discharge of all Israeli hostages in alternate for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a proper finish to the struggle, and an entire Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

A senior Hamas delegation was on account of arrive in Cairo for consultations.

The final ceasefire collapsed a month in the past when Israel resumed bombing Gaza, with either side blaming one another for the failure to maintain it going.

Israel has not commented on the mediators’ plan.

In the meantime, 22 Palestinians have been killed in a sequence of Israeli air strikes throughout the Gaza Strip since Monday night, a medical official within the Hamas-run well being ministry advised the BBC.

The official mentioned they have been killed in Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Gaza Metropolis, and that 45 different individuals have been injured.

Native residents and eyewitnesses described the air strikes as “extraordinarily intense.”

In accordance with witnesses, the assaults destroyed dozens of bulldozers and heavy equipment – gear utilized by Hamas-run municipalities to reopen roads, clear rubble, and rescue victims trapped beneath the particles.

Tanks have additionally been seen transferring within the southern a part of Rafah metropolis within the south of Gaza.

As Israel pushes on with its offensive, talks will happen in Cairo with Hamas represented at a senior degree by the pinnacle of its political council, Mohammed Darwish, and its lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya.

The assembly comes days after the motion rejected Israel’s newest proposal, which included a requirement for Hamas to disarm in return for a six-week truce.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned he wouldn’t finish the struggle earlier than Hamas was destroyed and all of the hostages returned. Hamas has demanded Israel decide to ending the struggle earlier than the hostages are freed.

The Palestinian official accustomed to the talks advised the BBC that Hamas has signalled its readiness at hand over governance of Gaza to any Palestinian entity agreed upon “on the nationwide and regional degree”. The official mentioned this might be the West Financial institution-based Palestinian Authority (PA) or a newly shaped administrative physique.

Netanyahu has dominated out any function for the PA sooner or later governance of Gaza, which has been dominated by Hamas since 2007.

Whereas it’s nonetheless too early to evaluate the probability of success, the supply described the present mediation effort as critical and mentioned Hamas had proven “unprecedented flexibility”.

Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 individuals – principally civilians – and taking 251 again to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched an enormous navy offensive in response, which has killed 51,240 Palestinians – primarily civilians – based on Gaza’s Hamas-run well being ministry figures on Monday.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo has instructed its workers – who had been co-ordinating medical evacuations from Gaza to Egyptian hospitals and facilitating the entry of humanitarian assist – to relocate with their households to the Egyptian metropolis of Arish, close to the Gaza border.