Gaza buffer zone plan outlined ahead of key Netanyahu-Trump meeting
The proposal stops short of guaranteeing a permanent end to the war – a condition demanded by Hamas – but says negotiations for a permanent ceasefire would take place during the 60 days.
During that time, 'President [Donald] Trump guarantees Israel's adherence' to halting military operations, the document says, adding that Trump 'will personally announce the ceasefire agreement'.
The personal guarantee by Trump appeared to be an attempt to reassure Hamas that Israel would not unilaterally resume fighting as it did in March during a previous ceasefire, when talks to extend it appeared to stall.
Trump said last week that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire, but it was unclear if the terms were those in the document reviewed by AP.
Hamas has requested some changes, but has not specified them.
Separately, an Israeli official said the security cabinet late on Saturday approved sending aid into northern Gaza, where civilians suffer from acute food shortages.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the decision with media, declined to give more details.
Northern Gaza has seen just a trickle of aid enter since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's closest distribution site is near the Netzarim corridor, south of Gaza City, that separates the territory's north and south.
Israel hits 130 targets across Gaza
In Gaza, hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 38 Palestinians on Sunday.
Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding 25 others, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Shifa Hospital, which serves the area.
Israel's military said it had struck several Hamas fighters in two locations in the area of Gaza City.
In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 18 Palestinians in Mawasi, on the Mediterranean coast, where thousands of displaced people live in tents, said officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. It said two families were among the dead.
'My brother, his wife, his four children, my cousin's son and his daughter ... Eight people are gone,' said Saqer Abu Al-Kheir as people gathered on the sand for prayers and burials.
Israel's military had no immediate comment on those strikes but said it had struck 130 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours, including Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they had killed a number of militants.
Separately, Israel attacked Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports and a power plant, the Israeli military said on Monday, marking the first Israeli attack on Yemen in almost a month.
Residents told Reuters the Israeli strikes on the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah put the main power station out of service, leaving the city in darkness.
The Houthi military spokesperson said air defences confronted the Israeli attack 'by using a large number of domestically produced surface-to-air missiles'.
Rift over ending the war
Ahead of the indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Netanyahu's office asserted that the militant group was seeking 'unacceptable' changes to the ceasefire proposal. Hamas gave a 'positive' response late on Friday to the latest proposal.
The militant group has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas' demands for guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the group's destruction.
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The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires.
Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, says Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organisations consider their figures to be the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
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