Hamas says ready to start Gaza ceasefire talks 'immediately'
JACK GUEZ
Israel was considering its response after Hamas said it was ready to start talks "immediately" on
a US-sponsored proposal for a Gaza ceasefire
.
The security Cabinet was expected to meet after the end of the Jewish sabbath at sundown to discuss Israel's next steps, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to head to Washington for talks on Monday with US President Donald Trump.
Trump has been making a renewed push to end nearly 21 months of war in Gaza, where the civil defence agency said 35 people were killed in Israeli military operations on Saturday.
"No decision has been made yet on that issue," an Israeli government official told AFP when asked about Hamas's positive response to the latest ceasefire proposal.
Hamas made its announcement late Friday after holding consultations with other Palestinian factions.
"The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place" the US-backed truce proposal, the militant group said in a statement.
Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP that the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel's withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks, but demanded guarantees that Israel "will not resume its aggression" once hostages held in Gaza are freed.
Trump, when asked about Hamas's response aboard Air Force One, said: "That's good. They haven't briefed me on it. We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza."
The war in Gaza began with Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive in the territory that aimed to destroy Hamas and bring home all the hostages seized by Palestinian militants.
Two previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States secured temporary halts in fighting and the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said Saturday that top diplomat Badr Abdelatty held a phone call with Washington's main representative in the truce talks, Steve Witkoff, to discuss recent developments "and preparations for holding indirect meetings between the two parties concerned to reach an agreement".
Meanwhile, ahead of its weekly protest demanding the return of the hostages, the main group representing their families renewed its call for a negotiated agreement to bring them home.
"This is the hour to bring about a comprehensive deal that will guarantee the return of the last hostage," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
But recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel's rejection of Hamas's demand for guarantees of a lasting ceasefire.
Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.
A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.
The group said two of its US staff members were wounded "in a targeted terrorist attack" at one of its aid centres in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis on Saturday, adding that reports indicated a pair of assailants "threw two grenades at the Americans".
The Israeli military said it had evacuated the injured.
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
Its operations have been marred by near-daily reports of Israeli fire on people waiting to collect rations.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Friday that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.
But GHF chairman Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical leader allied to Trump, on Wednesday rejected calls for the lead role in Gaza aid distributions to revert to UN agencies, saying: "We will not be shut down."
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Israeli military operations killed 35 people across Gaza on Saturday.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates.
The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,338 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
- AFP
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