Hamas has said it has submitted a “positive response” to mediators regarding the latest US-backed proposal to broker a ceasefire with Israel, raising hopes of a possible breakthrough in the conflict, which has heightened humanitarian concerns in Gaza.
Earlier, US president Donald Trump announced a “final proposal” for a 60-day ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, stating that Israel had accepted the “necessary conditions” to end the hostilities.
The plan envisages the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas, as well as the return of the bodies of 18 others, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and a halt to the bombing of Gaza.
“The movement has delivered its response to the brotherly mediators, which was characterised by a positive spirit,” Hamas said on its official website on Friday.
“Hamas is fully prepared, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework.”
Israeli media reported that Israel has received Hamas’s response, and it was being examined as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to endorse the plan publicly.
It comes ahead of Mr Netanyahu’s expected meeting with Mr Trump in Washington on Monday.
In Gaza, civilians continue to endure starvation-level conditions and relentless bombardment as the war nears its second year. People gathering to collect food and water have been targeted, as Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has caused an acute shortage of basic supplies and pushed the population to the brink of starvation.
The United Nations human rights office said that 613 Palestinians were killed within a month while trying to access humanitarian aid.
Of those, 509 people were killed while trying to receive aid at distribution points run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A Hamas official said the ceasefire under the new proposal could begin as early as next week, but added that further talks were needed to determine how many Palestinian prisoners would be released for each freed Israeli hostage, and to specify the amount of aid that would enter Gaza during the truce.
Hamas wants aid to flow in greater quantities through the UN and other humanitarian agencies, an official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The official also said that negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza would begin on the first day of the truce, in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages.
The last ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March, and since then, more than 6,000 people have been killed in Gaza as Israeli forces intensified their attacks, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the enclave of two million people.
Previous rounds of negotiations have stalled over Hamas’s demands for guarantees that further talks would lead to an end to the war, while prime minister Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will resume fighting to ensure the destruction of the militant group.
“We’ll see what happens. We’re going to know over the next 24 hours,” Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One late on Thursday when asked if Hamas had agreed to the latest framework for a ceasefire.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said the death toll in the Palestinian territory has surpassed 57,000. While the ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, it reports that more than half of those killed are women and children.
