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Egypt has put forward new proposals to reinstate the ceasefire in Gaza, aiming to secure the release of up to six hostages and the remains of an unspecified number held by Hamas, sources briefed on the proposal told The National on Wednesday.
In exchange, the plan calls for negotiations on ending the war, according to the sources, who said it also includes the resumption of sending humanitarian assistance into the territory. Israel has blocked aid deliveries since earlier this month and also cut off the supply of electricity.
Hamas has agreed to the plan in principle but demanded guarantees that negotiating an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal will commence when it releases the hostages as part of the Egyptian proposals.
The plan comes after Israel resumed the bombardment of Gaza early on Tuesday, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
“The main objective of the new proposals is to stop the hostilities and allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza again,” one of the sources said. “The Americans are aware of the existence of the new proposals but are yet to respond.”
The sources said the plan was not final and could be modified to get the approval of both sides.
News of the Egyptian proposals came after Israel carried out further air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, killing 13 people, according to the territory's civil defence agency. The latest strikes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday's raids, which killed more than 400 Palestinians, were “only the beginning”.
There was no direct comment immediately available from Hamas on the new proposals, but a senior official said on Wednesday it remained open to negotiations.
The second phase of the previous ceasefire deal provided for negotiations for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Instead, Israel wanted to extend the first phase, embracing a proposal by US envoy Steve Witkoff for a truce until mid-April and the release of 11 hostages held by Hamas along with the remains of half the deceased hostages.
Hamas has rejected the plan, a move that prompted Israel and the US to portray it as a refusal to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The sources said the Egyptian plan's provision for the release of six hostages rather than the 11 mentioned in Mr Witkoff's proposal is designed to make it acceptable to Hamas since the group, significantly weakened by more than a year of Israeli strikes, views them as its most powerful bargaining chips.
In contrast to Israel's declared wish, the plan also does not provide for the expulsion from Gaza and exile of Hamas's political and military leaders.
Mediators from Egypt, the US and Qatar brokered the January ceasefire deal after more than a year of on-off negotiations. Of the three mediators, Egypt is most impacted by the war in Gaza, with which it shares a border.
The Gaza war, sparked by a deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023 in which 1,200 were killed, has slashed by half Egypt's vital revenue from the Suez Canal because of attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis.
The war has killed more than 49,500 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It has also displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million residents and laid to waste large segments of built-up areas.