Hamas releases proof of life video featuring two hostages

Ceasefire offer under review

Loading

Hamas said on Sunday (AEST) it was reviewing a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, as Egypt intensified efforts to broker a deal to end the months-long war and stave off a planned Israeli ground offensive into the southern city of Rafah.

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya did not provide any details of Israel’s offer, but said it was in response to a Hamas proposal two weeks ago. Negotiations earlier this month centred on a six-week ceasefire proposal and the release of 40 civilian and sick hostages in exchange for freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

A separate Hamas statement said leaders from the three main militant groups active in Gaza discussed attempts to end the war. It didn’t mention the Israeli proposal.

The statements came hours after an Egyptian delegation ended a visit to Israel, where it discussed a “new vision” for a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, according to an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the developments.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Israel’s proposal was directly related to the visit.

The discussions between Egyptian and Israeli officials focused on the first stage of a plan that would include a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners, and the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimum restrictions”, the Egyptian official said.

Mediators were working on a compromise that would answer most of both parties’ main demands, the official said, and it could pave the way to continued negotiations with the goal of a deal to end the war.

Hamas has said it won’t back down from demands for a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israel has rejected both demands and said it would continue military operations until Hamas was defeated, and that it would retain a security presence in Gaza.

Rafah assault looms

Loading

There is growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire deal and avert an Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge.

Israel has insisted for months it plans a ground offensive into Rafah, which is on the border with Egypt. Israel says many remaining Hamas militants remain in the city, and its plans to enter Rafah are in despite of calls for restraint, including from Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States.

Egypt has cautioned that an offensive into Rafah could have “catastrophic consequences” on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where famine is feared, and on regional peace and security.

The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles in southern Israel close to Rafah and hit locations in the city in near-daily airstrikes.

Early on Saturday, an airstrike hit a house in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighbourhood, killing a man, his wife and their sons, aged 12, 10 and 8, according to records of the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital’s morgue. A neighbour’s four-month-old girl was also killed.

Ahmed Omar rushed with other neighbours after the airstrike to look for survivors, but said they only found bodies and body parts. “It’s a tragedy,” he said.

An Israeli airstrike later on Saturday on a building in Rafah killed seven people, including six members of the Ashour family, according to the morgue.

Five people were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza overnight when an Israeli strike hit a house, according to officials at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Elsewhere, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian men at a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the military said. It said the men had opened fire at troops stationed at Salem checkpoint near the city of Jenin.

Reuters, AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.