CAIRO (AP) – Hamas announced Saturday that it is considering a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, as Egypt steps up efforts to broker a deal to end the Gaza conflict. months of war and thwart Israel's planned ground attack on the southern city of Rafah.
Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas official, did not go into details about Israel's proposal, but said it was in response to Hamas's proposal two weeks ago.Negotiations earlier this month centered around six weeks of negotiations. ceasefire proposal And instead of freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, they freed 40 civilian and sick hostages.
A separate Hamas statement said leaders of the three main armed groups operating in Gaza had discussed efforts to end the war. He did not mention Israel's proposal.
This statement was issued several hours after the incident. egyptian delegation They concluded their trip to Israel and discussed a “new vision” for a longer ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to an Egyptian official who spoke freely about the developments on condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately clear whether Israel's proposal was directly related to the visit.
Talks between Egyptian and Israeli officials include a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners, and the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimal restrictions.” The focus was on the first phase of the plan, which included the ” said an Egyptian official.
Mediators are working on a compromise that meets most of the main demands of both sides, which could pave the way for continued negotiations aimed at an agreement to end the war, officials said.
Hamas said it would not withdraw its demands for a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel rejects both and says it will continue military operations and maintain security in Gaza until Hamas is defeated.
International pressure is mounting on Hamas and Israel to reach a cease-fire agreement and avoid an Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people have fled.
Israel has been saying so for months. Plan a ground attack on RafahIt is located on the border with Egypt, where many Hamas extremists remain. ask for restraint That includes from Israel's most loyal ally, the United States.
Egypt warned that an attack on Rafah could have “catastrophic consequences” for the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where famine is a concern, and for peace and security in the region.
The Israeli military has amassed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in southern Israel near Rafah and conducts airstrikes on parts of the city almost every day.
A man, his wife, and their sons, ages 12, 10, and 8, were killed in an airstrike on a house in Rafah's Tel Sultan neighborhood early Saturday morning, according to morgue records at Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital. did. A four-month-old girl living nearby also died.
Ahmed Omar said he and other neighbors rushed to look for survivors after the 1:30 a.m. strike, but found only bodies and body parts.
“It's a tragedy,” he said.
An Israeli airstrike on a building in Rafah late Saturday killed seven people, including six members of the Ashur family, the morgue said.
Israeli airstrikes killed five people overnight in the Nuseyrat refugee camp in central Gaza, officials at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.
Elsewhere, the military said it had shot dead two Palestinian men at a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The newspaper said the men opened fire on troops stationed at the Salem checkpoint near the city of Jenin.
Violence intensifies in the West Bank Since the war. The Ramallah-based Health Ministry said 491 Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling.
The US government has criticized Israel's policies in the West Bank.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently scheduled to visit Israel on Tuesday It was determined that the army unit had committed a rights violation. It was in Gaza before the war.
But in an undated letter to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, Blinken said he would postpone any decision to block aid to the troops to give Israel time to right its wrongdoings. Ta. Blinken stressed that the United States' overall military support for the defense of Israel will not be affected.
The United States also build a pier Delivering aid to Gaza through a new port. The Israeli military confirmed on Saturday that the operation would begin by early May.
BBC reported The British government was considering sending troops Anonymous government sources said they would drive trucks to transport aid supplies to the coast. British officials declined to comment.
Another aid activity is three-ship fleet Organizers said passengers from Turkey were prevented from leaving the voyage.
Student protests over the war While demonstrations continue in many countries, their impact on Palestinians is growing on U.S. college campuses.
Hamas caused a war The militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people (mostly civilians) and taking about 250 hostages. Israel said insurgents were still holding about 100 hostages and the bodies of more than 30 others.
Hamas released a video on Saturday showing hostages Keith Siegel and Omri Milan. It is not clear when the video was created. Both refer to Jewish holidays. passover festival, started on Monday. They called on the Israeli government to reach an agreement with Hamas. They almost certainly spoke under duress.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip's health ministry. Two-thirds of them are children and women. The number does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The ministry said 32 people died in the past 24 hours and were transferred to local hospitals.
Israel accuses Hamas of infiltrating residential areas and causing civilian casualties. Israel has reported at least 260 soldiers killed since the start of the ground operation.
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David Rising reported from Bangkok. Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem, Bassem Mourou in Beirut and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.
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