Tents are set up as temporary shelters for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City. AFP
The proposal, relayed through mediators and presented by US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, would mark the third truce in the nearly 20-month-long Israeli war on Gaza.
“Hamas has agreed to the new proposal by US envoy Steve Witkoff, which the movement received from mediators,” a source inside Hamas informed the AFP.
The new proposal would see 10 still living Israeli captives held in Gaza released over two batches in exchange for a 70-day truce.
Israel rejected the latest ceasefire proposal, according to reports in the Times of Israel.
An Israeli official speaking to the media said, “The proposal received by Israel cannot be accepted by any responsible government."
Meanwhile, the Times of Israel said US envoy Witkoff told Axios that Hamas’ position “is disappointing and completely unacceptable."
On Monday, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation announced that the government approved a decision to call up a maximum of 450,000 reserve soldiers.
On 18 March, Tel Aviv unilaterally ended the three-phase, two-month ceasefire brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US in its first phase.
Since then, the Israeli army has killed at least 3,822 people, pushing the overall Palestinian death toll to 53,977 since the start of the war on 7 October 2023.
In tandem, a deadly Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza imposed on 2 March — and only marginally eased by Tel Aviv in recent days — has left two million people in the strip on the brink of famine.
For weeks, Israel has refused to commit to any mediation efforts that stipulate it end the war on the strip.
On 18 April, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal for a 45-day truce and captive-prisoner exchange because Tel Aviv would not commit to ending its war.
Earlier this month, Egypt and Qatar mediated a new round of ceasefire talks in Doha, with Witkoff participating.
Hamas and US representatives also held direct talks for the first time despite a Washington designation of the Palestinian group as a "terrorist organisation."
On 12 May, the Palestinian group released US-Israeli occupation army soldier Edan Alexander from captivity “as a gesture of good faith.”
On Monday, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes killed 52 people, including 33 sheltering in a school in Gaza City.
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