Hamas receives latest Israeli proposal amid efforts to revive Gaza talks
Al Jazeera
Hamas says it is ‘open to any ideas’ but sticks to its demand that a deal must permanently end the Gaza war.
Hamas has received Israel’s official response to its latest Gaza ceasefire proposal and the Palestinian group will study the document before submitting a reply, the organisation’s deputy Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.
“Hamas has received today the official response of the Zionist occupation to the proposal presented to the Egyptian and the Qatari mediators on April 13,” al-Hayya, who is currently based in Qatar, said in a statement published by the group on Saturday.
After more than six months of Israel’s brutal war on the Gaza Strip, negotiations to bring about a ceasefire remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement with Israel must bring an end to Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave.
An Egyptian delegation visited Israel for discussion with Israeli officials on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the conflict and return remaining captives held in Gaza following the October 7 attacks on southern Israel, an official briefed on the meetings told the French news agency AFP.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 captives would be released by Hamas, instead of the 40 previously under discussion. On Thursday, the United States and 17 other countries appealed to Hamas to release all of its captives as a pathway to end the war.
