Israel assesses Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Thursday night (4) to discuss Hamas’ new positions on a possible ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu’s office said as fighting raged in the enclave.

Ahead of the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu will hold consultations with his ceasefire negotiation team, the source also said.

Israel on Wednesday (3) received Hamas’ response to a proposal made public at the end of May by US President Joe Biden, which would include the release of around 120 hostages held in Gaza and a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

A Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters that Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, had shown flexibility on some clauses that would allow a deal to be reached if Israel approved.

Two Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hamas has said any deal must end the war and trigger a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas is eradicated.

The plan involves the gradual release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli military forces during the first two phases, as well as the release of Palestinian prisoners. The third phase involves the reconstruction of the war-torn territory and the return of the remains of deceased hostages.

Palestinians live in apprehensive hope

In Gaza, Palestinians reacted cautiously ahead of Israel’s response.

“We hope this is the end of the war, we are exhausted and we cannot bear any more setbacks and disappointments,” said Youssef, a father of two now displaced in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

“With every hour that passes in this war, more people die and more homes are destroyed, so enough is enough. I say this to my leaders, to Israel and to the world,” he told Reuters via a chat app.

On Thursday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll in the nearly nine-month war had surpassed 38,000, with 87,445 wounded. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led gunmen invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli records.

In the morning, an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City and the Civil Emergency Service said five Palestinians were killed and others wounded, while other Israeli strikes in Gaza City killed a woman and wounded several others, medics said.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tanks also shelled several areas on the eastern side of Khan Younis after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders on Tuesday (2), but there was no movement of tanks into those areas, residents said.

On Thursday, many Palestinians were still seeking shelter after the evacuation order, which also included the border town of Rafah and which the United Nations called the biggest order since 1.1 million people were told to leave the northern enclave in October.

Residents of Khan Younis said many families were sleeping on the road because they could not find tents.

Israeli planes and tanks bombed several areas in the Shejaia, Sabra, Daraj and Tuffah areas of northern Gaza, killing several Palestinians, including children, and wounding others, health officials said.

The Israeli military said its troops and aircraft killed dozens of militants in those areas and in Rafah in southern Gaza, which Israel described as Hamas’s last stronghold.

The war created a humanitarian crisis and destroyed most of the enclave’s medical facilities.

Earlier, Gaza’s Health Ministry said generators at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, the only major hospital still functioning, would run out of fuel within hours and appealed to international humanitarian organizations for help in securing new supplies.