(BBC News) Hamas has agreed to the latest proposal from regional mediators for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, a source in the Palestinian armed group has told the BBC.
The proposal from Egypt and Qatar is said to be based on a two-stage framework put forward by US envoy Steve Witkoff in June.
It would see Hamas free around half of the 50 remaining Israeli hostages – 20 of whom are believed to be alive – in two batches during an initial 60-day truce. There would also be negotiations on a permanent ceasefire.
It is unclear what Israel’s response will be, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said it will now only accept a deal if “all the hostages are released in one go”.
In a video released after the reports of Hamas’s approval emerged, Netanyahu did not comment directly but said he got the impression that the group was “under immense pressure”.
Later this week, his cabinet is expected to approve the Israeli military’s plan to occupy Gaza City, where intensifying Israeli strikes have prompted thousands of Palestinians to flee.
The prime minister announced Israel’s intention to widen its offensive and conquer all of Gaza – including the areas where most of its two million residents have sought refuge – after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire deal broke down last month.
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv to demand that their government agree a deal with Hamas to bring all the hostages home now and end the war.
Netanyahu accused the demonstrators of hardening Hamas’s negotiating position.
He has said the war will only end once all the hostages are released and Hamas disarms. He also wants Gaza to be demilitarised, kept under Israeli security control, and run by an administration not linked to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has called for a comprehensive deal that would see the hostages it is holding exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. It says it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is created.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 62,004 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgjye15zdlo
