Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has accepted US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and prisoner exchange.
“Israel accepts the new Witkoff outline,” Netanyahu reportedly said during a meeting with the families of hostages being held by Hamas, according to a statement released by his office and picked up by Israeli media.
Hamas officials gave the Israeli-approved draft a cool response, but said they wanted to study the proposal more closely before giving a formal answer.
“The Zionist response, in essence, means perpetuating the occupation and continuing the killing and famine,” said Bassem Naim, a top Hamas official. He said it “does not respond to any of our people’s demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine.”
Nonetheless, he said the group would study the proposal “with all national responsibility.”
It comes after Witkoff said earlier this week that he was optimistic about brokering an agreement to end more than 19 months of war in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages being held in the Strip by Hamas.
“I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution — a temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution of that conflict,” he said on Wednesday.
What is in the latest proposal?
Witkoff has not made public what the latest proposal contains but a Hamas official and an Egyptian official independently confirmed some of the details.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.
They say it calls for a 60-day pause in fighting, guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages, as it did in March when the previous ceasefire collapsed.
Hamas would release 10 living hostages and a number of bodies during the 60-day pause in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 100 serving long sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.
Each day, hundreds of trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter Gaza, where experts say a nearly three-month Israeli blockade has pushed much of the population to the brink of famine.
What do Israel and Hamas want?
Getting both sides to agree to a deal has been tricky with both Israel and Hamas diverging on several key issues.
Hamas insists on a lasting ceasefire, a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza and an influx of humanitarian aid.
Israel however has consistently squashed those demands, saying it would only agree to temporary pauses in fighting to facilitate the release of hostages and that its ultimate goal is the total destruction of Hamas.
Hamas still holds 58 hostages, around a third of whom are believed to still be alive.
Netanyahu has also insisted that Israel will indefinite “security control” over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population.
Palestinians and most of the international community have rejected plans to resettle Gaza’s population, a move experts say would likely violate international law.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages, its only bargaining chip, in return for more Palestinian prisoners but offered to give up power to a committee of politically independent Palestinians that could oversee reconstruction of the enclave.
The dispute over whether any ceasefire should be temporary or permanent has been a persistent sticking point in talks, brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar, that have stumbled along for more than 18 months.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed at least 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The Israeli military says 850 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war.
The offensive has destroyed vast swathes of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly two million Palestinians, with hundreds of thousands living in squalid tent camps and unused schools.
Hamas has been vastly depleted militarily and lost nearly all of its senior leaders in Gaza.
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