New Israel-Gaza ceasefire plan proposed, Hamas supply says

A senior Palestinian official accustomed to Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations has instructed the BBC that Qatari and Egyptian mediators have proposed a brand new system to finish the struggle in Gaza.

In accordance with the official, it envisages a truce lasting between 5 and 7 years, the discharge of all Israeli hostages in change for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a proper finish to the struggle, and an entire Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

A senior Hamas delegation was on account of arrive in Cairo for consultations.

The final ceasefire collapsed a month in the past when Israel resumed bombing Gaza, with each side blaming one another for the failure to maintain it going.

Israel has not commented on the mediators’ plan.

Hamas will likely be represented at discussions in Cairo by the top of its political council, Mohammed Darwish, and its lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya.

It comes days after the motion rejected Israel’s newest proposal, which included a requirement for Hamas to disarm in return for a six-week truce.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated he wouldn’t finish the struggle earlier than Hamas was destroyed and all of the hostages returned. Hamas has demanded Israel decide to ending the struggle earlier than the hostages are freed.

The Palestinian official accustomed to the talks instructed the BBC that Hamas has signalled its readiness at hand over governance of Gaza to any Palestinian entity agreed upon “on the nationwide and regional degree”. The official stated this could possibly be the West Financial institution-based Palestinian Authority (PA) or a newly fashioned administrative physique.

Netanyahu has dominated out any function for the PA sooner or later governance of Gaza, which has been dominated by Hamas since 2007.

Whereas it’s nonetheless too early to evaluate the chance of success, the supply described the present mediation effort as severe and stated Hamas had proven “unprecedented flexibility”.

Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about about 1,200 individuals – principally civilians – and taking 251 again to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched an enormous army offensive in response, which has killed 51,240 Palestinians – primarily civilians – in keeping with Gaza’s Hamas-run well being ministry.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo has instructed its employees – who had been co-ordinating medical evacuations from Gaza to Egyptian hospitals and facilitating the entry of humanitarian support – to relocate with their households to the Egyptian metropolis of Arish, close to the Gaza border.