Hamas responds to US plan for Gaza ceasefire, repeats call for end of war

Hamas has on Saturday said that it has responded to a ceasefire plan put forward by President Trump’s envoy on Gaza, repeating its call for an end to the war.

Hamas on Saturday said that it has responded to a ceasefire plan put forward by President Trump’s envoy on Gaza, repeating its call for an end to the war. In a statement, Hamas said that its “proposal” to the mediators – Qatar and Egypt — “aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensure the flow of aid to our people and our families in the Gaza Strip.” “As part of this agreement, ten living Israeli prisoners held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the return of eighteen bodies, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners,” the statement said. It comes after a senior Hamas official told CNN earlier this week that the group had sent back a three-pronged counterproposal requesting US assurances that the negotiations over a permanent ceasefire will continue and the fighting will not resume after the pause; that humanitarian assistance be carried out through the United Nations; and that the IDF pull back to the positions that they held on March 2. An Israeli official told CNN on Saturday that they saw the militant group’s latest response as having “effectively rejected the latest Witkoff proposal and put forward a new offer with its own conditions.” The US-backed and Israel-approved proposal seen by CNN on Friday includes Hamas releasing 10 Israeli hostages and 18 deceased hostages in exchange for 125 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1,111 Gazans detained since the war began.