Hamas official says it rejects new US Gaza ceasefire plan backed by Israel

A senior Hamas official has instructed the BBC the Palestinian armed group will reject the newest US proposal for a brand new Gaza ceasefire and hostage launch deal.

The White Home mentioned on Thursday that Israel had “signed off” on US envoy Steve Witkoff’s plan and that it was ready for a proper response from Hamas.

Israeli media cited Israeli officers as saying it will see Hamas hand over 10 dwelling hostages and the our bodies of 18 useless hostages in two phases in change for a 60-day ceasefire and the discharge of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The Hamas official mentioned the proposal didn’t fulfill core calls for, together with an finish to the warfare, and that it will reply sooner or later.

The Israeli authorities has not commented, however Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly instructed hostages’ households on Thursday that he accepted Witkoff’s plan.

Israel imposed a complete blockade on Gaza and resumed its army offensive towards Hamas on 18 March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

It mentioned it needed to place strain on Hamas to launch the 58 hostages it’s nonetheless holding, a minimum of 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

On 19 Might, the Israeli army launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu mentioned would see troops “take management of all areas” of Gaza. The subsequent day, he mentioned Israel would additionally ease the blockade and permit a “fundamental” quantity of meals into Gaza to stop a famine.

Nearly 4,000 individuals have been killed in Gaza over the previous 10 weeks, in accordance with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.

The UN says one other 600,000 individuals have been displaced once more by Israeli floor operations and evacuation orders, and a report by the UN-backed IPC warns that about 500,000 individuals face catastrophic ranges of starvation within the coming months.

At a information convention in Washington DC on Thursday, White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was requested whether or not she might affirm a report by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that Israel and Hamas had agreed a brand new ceasefire deal.

“I can affirm that Particular Envoy Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal earlier than it was despatched to Hamas,” she mentioned.

“I may affirm that these discussions are persevering with, and we hope {that a} ceasefire in Gaza will happen so we will return the entire hostages house,” she added.

Nevertheless, a senior Hamas official later mentioned the deal contradicted earlier discussions between the group’s negotiators and Witkoff.

The official instructed the BBC that the supply didn’t embrace ensures the non permanent truce would result in a everlasting ceasefire, nor a return to the humanitarian protocol that allowed a whole bunch of vans of help into Gaza each day over the past ceasefire.

However, he mentioned Hamas remained in touch with the mediators and would submit its written response sooner or later.

Earlier, Israel’s Channel 12 TV reported the Netanyahu instructed hostages’ households at a gathering: “We agree to simply accept the newest Witkoff plan that was conveyed to us tonight. Hamas has not but responded. We don’t consider Hamas will launch the final hostage, and we is not going to go away the Strip till all of the hostages are in our palms.”

His workplace later issued an announcement accusing one of many channel’s reporters of attempting to “smuggle” a recording system into the room the place the assembly occurred. However it didn’t deny that he had agreed to the US proposal.

Netanyahu has beforehand mentioned that Israel will finish the warfare solely when all of the hostages are launched, Hamas is both destroyed or disarmed, and its leaders have been despatched into exile.

Hamas has mentioned it is able to return all of these held captive, in change for an entire finish to hostilities and full Israeli pull-out from Gaza.

Israel launched a army marketing campaign in Gaza in response Hamas’ cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, wherein about 1,200 individuals had been killed and 251 others had been taken hostage.

One other 4 individuals, two of them useless, had been already being held captive in Gaza earlier than the battle.

To this point, Israel has secured the return of 197 hostages, 148 of them alive, largely by way of two non permanent ceasefire offers with Hamas.

Not less than 54,249 individuals have been killed in Gaza throughout the warfare, together with 3,986 since Israel resumed its offensive, in accordance with the territory’s well being ministry.

On Thursday, a minimum of 54 individuals had been killed by Israeli strikes throughout Gaza, in accordance with the Hamas-run Civil Defence company. They included 23 individuals who died when a house within the central Bureij space was hit, it mentioned.

The Israeli army mentioned it had struck “dozens of terror targets” over the previous day.