Israel has approved a potential assault on the Gazan city of Rafah while also keeping ceasefire hopes alive with plans to send another delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible hostage deal with Hamas.
Hamas has presented a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators and the US, which includes release of Israeli hostages in exchange for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences, according to a proposal seen by Reuters. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri accused Netanyahu of “manoeuvring ... to conduct more crimes of genocide.”Israel has rejected claims of genocide, saying it is purely focused on destroying all Hamas fighters.
More than two weeks after receiving an Israeli-approved proposal for a truce, Hamas gave mediators on Thursday its first formal counter-proposal in more than a month. Though Israel did not accept, its description of the terms as “still unrealistic” was notably milder than its response to the previous Hamas offer last month, which Netanyahu called “delusional”.
The war began with an attack by Hamas Islamist fighters from Gaza who killed 1200 people and seized 253 hostages in Israel on October 7, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, an Israeli assault has killed more than 31,000 people, according to Palestinian figures, and driven nearly the entire population of Gaza from their homes.The UN says a quarter of Gazans are on the verge of famine and on Friday, the first ship bringing aid by sea, the Open Arms, arrived off Gaza.
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