New Gaza Cease-Fire Deal Would Come With U.S. Assurances on Talks to End War
The terms of the new proposal, put together by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff along with mediators from Egypt and Qatar, also call for, among other things, the exchange of 10 living hostages for a larger number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, the officials said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
18 minutes ago
- The Hill
Iran's Supreme Leader attends ceremony in first public appearance since Iran-Israel war started
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attended a mourning ceremony on the eve of Ashoura on Saturday in his first public appearance since the Iran-Israel war started. The absence of Khamenei suggested heavy security status for the Iranian leader, who has final say on all state matters, before possible strikes by Israel.
New York Post
19 minutes ago
- New York Post
Israel sending delegation to Qatar to talk possible Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war. Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a U.S.-backed Gaza cease-fire proposal in a 'positive spirit', a few days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed 'to the necessary conditions to finalise' a 60-day truce. The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters. Advertisement 4 Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, on the day Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu visits Kibbutz Nir Oz, for the first time since the October 7, 2023 attack, as seen from Nir Oz, Israel July 3, 2025. REUTERS 4 Palestinians transport the wounded and those who lost their lives to Al-Awda Hospital after an Israeli bombing in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on July 5, 2025. APAImages/Shutterstock But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump's announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart. Advertisement Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss. Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas' response to the cease-fire proposal. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Advertisement 4 Gaza's health ministry says Israel's retaliatory military assault has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. REUTERS 4 PM Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, which the group has refused to discuss. REUTERS Gaza's health ministry says Israel's retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced Gaza's entire population internally and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes. Israel denies the accusations.
UPI
24 minutes ago
- UPI
Two U.S. aid workers wounded in Gaza, foundation says
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation through an area known as the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza Strip on May 29. Photo by Haitham Imad/EPA July 5 (UPI) -- The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said two of its American aid workers were injured in an attack while distributing desperately needed food to Palestinians. The foundation, which formed in May, posted on X that two militants threw grenades in Khan Younis. The workers were in stable condition, GHF said. The incident "occurred at the conclusion of an otherwise successful distribution in which thousands of Gazans safely received food," GHF said. "No local aid workers or civilians were injured." The foundation blamed Hamas, which has been fighting Israel on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023. "GHF has repeatedly warned of credible threats from Hamas, including explicit plans to target American personnel, Palestinian aid workers and the civilians who rely on our sites for food. Today's attack tragically affirms those warnings," the foundation said. GHF said the attack won't deter its efforts, which began on May 27 in Rafah. "Despite this violence, GHF remains fully committed to its mission: feeding the people of Gaza safely, directly, and at scale," the foundation said. "Attempts to disrupt this life-saving work will only deepen the crisis. We will continue to stand with the people of Gaza and do everything in our power to deliver the aid they so urgently need." In June, more than 100 human rights groups and international aid charities, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty International, called for the end of aid by the foundation because the locations are in combat zones. "Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families," the group said. "The humanitarian system is being deliberately and systematically dismantled by the Government of Israel's blockade and restrictions, a blockade now being used to justify shutting down nearly all other aid operations in favor of a deadly, military-controlled alternative that neither protects civilians nor meets basic needs. Since the GHF was launched, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians trying to collect food aid, the U.N. and local doctors say, according to a BBC report. But Israel said the new distribution system stops aid going to Hamas. In May, GHF announced Israel will allow the resumption of aid, including 300 million meals for the initial 90 days. Since the cease-fire between Israel and militant-run Hamas ended on March 1, Israel had frozen all supplies of food, water and medicine to the region of an estimated 2.5 million people. The United Nations said Gazans are at a "critical risk of famine" with 1 in 5, or 500,000, facing starvation as the war rages since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The foundation's executive director, Jake Wood, is a decorated Marine Corps veteran, social entrepreneur and expert in crisis leadership. In 2010, he co-founded and is CEO of Team Rubicon, a nonprofit of 180,000 veteran volunteers in humanitarian roles, including disaster response.
