Hamas said yesterday it was studying what US President Donald Trump called a ‘final’ ceasefire proposal for Gaza but that Israel must pull out of the enclave, and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would be eliminated.
Trump earlier said Israel had agreed to the conditions needed to finalise a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas after a meeting between his representatives and Israeli officials.
In a statement, Hamas said it was studying new ceasefire offers received from mediators Egypt and Qatar but that it aimed to reach an agreement that would ensure an end to the war and an Israeli pullout from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the elimination of Hamas in his first public remarks since Trump’s announcement.
“There will not be a Hamas. There will not be a ‘Hamastan’. We’re not going back to that. It’s over,” Netanyahu told a meeting hosted by the Trans-Israel pipeline.
The two sides’ statements reiterated long-held positions, giving no clues as to whether or how a compromise agreement could be reached.
“I hope it would work this time, even if for two months, it would save thousands of innocent lives,” Kamal, a resident of Gaza City, said by phone.
Others questioned whether Trump’s statements would deliver long-term peace.
“We hope he is serious like he was serious during the Israeli-Iranian war when he said the war should stop, and it stopped,” said Adnan Al Assar, a resident of Khan Younis in Gaza’s south.
There is growing public pressure on Netanyahu to reach a permanent ceasefire and end the nearly two-year-long war, a move opposed by hardline members of his right-wing ruling coalition.
At the same time, US and Israeli strikes on nuclear sites in Iran and ceasefire agreed on in last month’s 12-day Israel-Iran air war have put pressure on Hamas, which is backed by Tehran.
Israeli leaders believe that, with Iran weakened, other countries in the region have an opportunity to forge ties with Israel.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel was ‘serious in our will’ to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire.
“There are some positive signs. I don’t want to say more than that right now. But our goal is to begin proximity talks as soon as possible,” he said while visiting Estonia.
Of 50 hostages held by Hamas, about 20 are believed to be still alive.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid posted that his party could provide a safety net if any cabinet members opposed a deal, effectively pledging not to back a no-confidence motion in parliament that could topple the government.
Gaza health authorities said Israeli gunfire and military strikes had killed at least 139 Palestinians in northern and southern areas in the past 24 hours, and the Israeli military ordered more evacuations late on Tuesday.
Among those killed was Marwan Al Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, in an air strike that has also killed his wife and five children, medics said.
The Israeli military said it had targeted a key fighter from Hamas in the Gaza City area. It said it was reviewing reports of civilian casualties and that the military regretted any harm to ‘uninvolved individuals’ and takes steps to minimise such harm.
A US- and Israel-backed group handing out food in Gaza under an aid system denounced by the UN said yesterday it was planning to shut its branch in Geneva, after Swiss authorities launched proceedings to dissolve it.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to receive aid since the GHF began handing out food packages in Gaza at the end of May, under a system which Israel says is intended to prevent aid from being diverted to fighters but the UN calls a dangerous violation of humanitarian neutrality principles.
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