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Egypt has presented Israel and Hamas with new proposals to break the deadlock over the future of the ceasefire in Gaza, including a 60-day truce, the release of the remaining hostages held by the militants and the start of negotiations on ending the war, sources briefed on the matter told The National on Sunday.
The sources said Hamas's initial response was “encouraging”. They said Israeli officials are studying the proposals. Israel announced it was sending a delegation to Qatar on Monday “in an effort to advance the negotiations” on the Gaza ceasefire
“The proposals are a new road map whose main points have been agreed with the Americans,” said one of the sources. “It's conceived as a way out of the deadlock we have had since March 1, when the ceasefire in Gaza ended.”
The proposals, said the sources, were discussed in Cairo over the weekend by Egyptian mediators and top Hamas officials Mohammed Darwish, Khalil Al Hayya and Zaher Jabareen. Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif Al Qanoua said there were “positive signals” in the group's latest talks with mediators.
Under the Egyptian proposals, the sources said, Hamas will kick off the two-month truce with the release of 10 living hostages, including all or some of the five Americans believed to be held by the group in Gaza. The 10 are not likely to be freed in one batch, the sources added. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others, according to the Israeli military.
According to the proposals, Israel is obliged to release an unspecified number of Palestinians held in its prisons in exchange for the hostages. They should include some of the most high-profile prisoners in the first batch, said the sources.
The proposals also include rescinding Israel's decision last week to halt the entry into Gaza of humanitarian assistance, fuel, tents and caravans. They provide for the start of negotiations on a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire that formally ends the war in the enclave, said the sources.
A 42-day ceasefire in Gaza that came into effect on January 19 paused the war in Gaza after 15 months of fighting and led to the release of 33 hostages – 25 living and the remains of eight others – who had been held by Hamas, in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinians incarcerated in Israel. As part of an agreement brokered by US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators, Israel and Hamas should have started negotiations on the second phase of the deal in early February, but they never did.
Instead, Israel offered an extension of the first phase until mid-April and pressed Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas has rejected the offer, insisting on a transition to negotiations on the second phase.
The latest Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 were killed and about 250 taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel's military response to the attack has killed more than 48,400 Palestinians and injured more than twice that number, according to Gaza's health ministry. It has also reduced to rubble most of the sector's built-up areas, and displaced the vast majority of its 2.3 million residents.
Last week, the White House confirmed the start of unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, with whom Washington had refused contact since designating it a terrorist organisation in 1997. The sources who spoke to The National on Sunday said direct US-Hamas contacts were continuing, but gave no further details.
Also last week, US President Donald Trump threatened further destruction of Gaza if all remaining hostages were not released, issuing what he called a “last warning” to Hamas leaders. He also warned of repercussions for all Gazans, writing: “A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!”
The US President provoked global shock last month when he floated a plan to resettle Gaza's Palestinians in Egypt and Jordan before a US “takeover” of the enclave that would turn it into a high-end beach resort. The proposal was widely condemned and an Arab summit last week adopted an alternative Egyptian plan that has also won the support of Muslim nations as well as the governments of Britain, France and Germany.
The $53 billion Egyptian plan would involve Gaza's reconstruction being financed through a trust fund, with the Palestinian Authority, which is based in Ramallah, returning to govern the territory from which it was expelled by Hamas in 2007.
“We need more discussion about it, but it's a good-faith first step,” Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's Middle East envoy, told reporters in Washington in response to the plan. Mr Witkoff will return to the region this week as he travels to Saudi Arabia for talks on the war in Ukraine.