Hamas has received Israel’s response to a US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire deal and is “thoroughly reviewing” it, even though the reply does not meet any of the Palestinians’ “just and legitimate demands”, one of the group’s officials said.
The White House said late on Thursday Israel had agreed to the US truce proposal and Hamas said it was reviewing the plan, although the militant group described the agreement as more biased in favour of Israel than previous proposals.
As a US-backed system for distributing food in the shattered territory expanded, Israeli media reported that its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted a deal presented by Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy.
Netanyahu’s office did not confirm the reports, but the White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters in Washington that Israel had signed off on the proposal.
She did not detail its contents. However, a draft seen by Reuters on Friday proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 28 Israeli hostages – alive and dead – in the first week and the release of 125 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians.
The plan, which says it is guaranteed by Trump and the mediators, Egypt and Qatar, includes sending aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement. The plan stipulates that Hamas will release the last 30 hostages once a permanent ceasefire is in place, and does not contain an Israeli promise to end the war.
The Palestinian militant group said it was studying the proposal, and the senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the group was still discussing it. Abu Zuhri said its terms echoed Israel’s position and did not contain commitments to end the war, withdraw Israeli troops or allow in aid as Hamas had demanded.
However, a top Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters on Friday that even though the response failed to meet any of the group’s “just and legitimate demands”, it was thoroughly reviewing it.
In a statement a few hours later, Hamas said it was holding consultations with other “Palestinian factions”, a term referring to other groups operating under its rule in Gaza, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March after only two months when Israel renewed its offensive.
Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all 58 hostages still held in Gaza be returned before it will agree to end the war.
The Israeli government fears that a lasting ceasefire and withdrawal would leave Hamas with significant influence in Gaza, even if it surrenders formal power. With time, the Israelis fear, Hamas might be able to rebuild its military might and eventually launch more 7 October-style attacks.
On the other hand, Hamas fears that Israel could break the ceasefire – as it did last March – and resume the war, which the Israeli government would be permitted to do after 60 days under the terms of the deal.
The militant group has also rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war.
While evaluating the deal, Hamas said the new proposal was more biased in favour of Israel than previous proposals, according to a source close to Hamas.
“The Zionist [Israeli] response, in essence, means perpetuating the occupation and continuing the killing and famine,” Naim told the Associated Press. He said it “does not respond to any of our people’s demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine”.
But Netanyahu also faces political constraints: his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he ends the war too soon. That would leave him more vulnerable to prosecution on longstanding corruption charges and to investigations into the failures surrounding the 7 October attack.
The far-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is considered illegal under international law, told Radio 103 on Thursday: “I stayed in the government to make sure that we return to fighting until the full goals of the war are realised, primarily the destruction of Hamas and the release of the hostages. The second I realise that the state of Israel is not going to victory in the Gaza Strip and is going to give up and surrender to a terrorist organisation, I will not only leave the government, I will overthrow it in the fastest way possible.”
Another far-right minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, said on Friday it was time to use “full force” in Gaza. “Mr Prime Minister, after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again – there are no more excuses,” the national security minister said on his Telegram channel. “The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.”
Ayelet Samerano, the mother of Yonatan Samerano, whose body is being held in Gaza, was among the family members who met Netanyahu on Thursday. She said the news that only 10 hostages and several bodies would be released had once again plunged the families into indescribable uncertainty.
“It’s again a selection, you know, all the families, we are right now standing and thinking, is it going to be my son? Isn’t it? What will be after part of them will come, what will be with the rest?”
“If they [Hamas] want guarantees, we will give them guarantees that after the last hostages will back to Israel, we will stop the war,” Samerano said. “I’m telling you, Netanyahu, say yes. All our countries say yes, the families say yes. All the families, when we are saying, stop the war and give us the hostages back.”
Meanwhile, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private logistics group backed by the US and endorsed by Israel, expanded its food distribution to a third site on Thursday.
Heavily criticised by the UN and other aid groups as inadequate and flawed, the group’s operation began this week in Gaza, where the UN has said 2 million people are at risk of famine after Israel’s 11-week blockade on aid entering the territory.
The launch was marred by tumultuous scenes on Tuesday when Israeli troops opened fire on a large crowd, killing at least one civilian and injuring dozens. The chaotic start to the operation has raised international pressure on Israel to get more food in and halt the fighting in Gaza. GHF says it has so far supplied about 1.8m meals and plans to open more sites in the coming weeks.
Israeli jets continued to pound the Palestinian territory on Friday, killing at least 14 people in the Jabaliya refugee camp, medics who received the bodies at Shifa hospital in northern Gaza said. The previous day, Israeli strikes killed another 45 people, including 23 in a strike on the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical workers said.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the devastating Hamas attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, and left the territory in ruins.
