A senior Hamas official has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group will reject the latest US proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The White House said on Thursday that Israel had “signed off” on US envoy Steve Witkoff’s plan and that it was waiting for a formal response from Hamas.
Israeli media cited Israeli officials as saying it would see Hamas hand over 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in two phases in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The Hamas official said the proposal did not satisfy core demands, including an end to the war, and that it would respond in due course.
The Israeli government has not commented, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told hostages’ families on Thursday that he accepted Witkoff’s plan.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza and resumed its military offensive against Hamas on 18 March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release the 58 hostages it is still holding, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
On 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops “take control of all areas” of Gaza. The next day, he said Israel would also ease the blockade and allow a “basic” amount of food into Gaza to prevent a famine.
Almost 4,000 people have been killed in Gaza over the past 10 weeks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The UN says another 600,000 people have been displaced again by Israeli ground operations and evacuation orders, and a report by the UN-backed IPC warns that about 500,000 people face catastrophic levels of hunger in the coming months.
At a news conference in Washington DC on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether she could confirm a report by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that Israel and Hamas had agreed a new ceasefire deal.
“I can confirm that Special Envoy Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas,” she said.
“I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home,” she added.
However, a senior Hamas official later said the deal contradicted previous discussions between the group’s negotiators and Witkoff.
The official told the BBC that the offer did not include guarantees the temporary truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, nor a return to the humanitarian protocol that allowed hundreds of trucks of aid into Gaza daily during the last ceasefire.
Nevertheless, he said Hamas remained in contact with the mediators and would submit its written response in due course.
Earlier, Israel’s Channel 12 TV reported the Netanyahu told hostages’ families at a meeting: “We agree to accept the latest Witkoff plan that was conveyed to us tonight. Hamas has not yet responded. We do not believe Hamas will release the last hostage, and we will not leave the Strip until all the hostages are in our hands.”
His office later issued a statement accusing one of the channel’s reporters of trying to “smuggle” a recording device into the room where the meeting took place. But it did not deny that he had agreed to the US proposal.
Netanyahu has previously said that Israel will end the war only when all the hostages are released, Hamas is either destroyed or disarmed, and its leaders have been sent into exile.
Hamas has said it is ready to return all of those held captive, in exchange for a complete end to hostilities and full Israeli pull-out from Gaza.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response Hamas’ cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Another four people, two of them dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the conflict.
So far, Israel has secured the return of 197 hostages, 148 of them alive, mostly through two temporary ceasefire deals with Hamas.
At least 54,249 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, including 3,986 since Israel resumed its offensive, according to the territory’s health ministry.
On Thursday, at least 54 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. They included 23 people who died when a home in the central Bureij area was hit, it said.
The Israeli military said it had struck “dozens of terror targets” over the past day. BBC
