Hamas accepts proposed deal for ceasefire with Israel and hostage release, Egyptian source says

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Hamas has accepted the latest proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages the group holds in Gaza and Israel's release of some Palestinian prisoners, an Egyptian official source said on Monday.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim wrote on Facebook: "The movement has handed over its approval to the new proposal presented by the mediators."

There was no immediate response from Israel.

The Egyptian official source said the latest proposal included a suspension of Israeli military operations for 60 days and a path to a comprehensive deal to end the nearly two-year war.

A source familiar with the matter said the proposal was nearly identical to one put forward previously by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel had accepted.

Israel's plans to seize control of Gaza City have stirred alarm abroad and at home where tens of thousands of Israelis on Sunday held some of the largest protests since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held in Gaza since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Israeli officials believe 20 are alive.

The planned offensive has spurred Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire mediators to step up efforts to forge a deal.

Thousands of Palestinians fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south in the shattered territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Gaza City as Hamas' last big urban bastion. But, with Israel already holding 75% of Gaza, the military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger hostages still alive and draw troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare.

Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on October 7, said he feared the consequences of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City. "I'm scared that my son would be hurt," he told Reuters in Tel Aviv on Monday.

In Gaza City, many Palestinians have also been calling for protests to demand an end to a war that has demolished much of the territory and wrought a humanitarian disaster, and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive.

An Israeli armoured incursion into Gaza City could displace hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been uprooted multiple times during the war.

Ahmed Mheisen, Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, said 995 families had departed the area in recent days for the south.

With the Israeli offensive looming, Mheisen put the number of tents needed for emergency shelter at 1.5 million, saying Israel had allowed only 120,000 tents into the territory during a January-March ceasefire.

The U.N. humanitarian office said last week 1.35 million people were already in need of emergency shelter items in Gaza.

“I am heading south because I need to ease my mental state," Mousa Obaid, a Gaza City resident, told Reuters. "I do not want to keep moving left and right endlessly. There is no life left, and as you can see, living conditions are hard, prices are high, and we have been without work for over a year and a half."

A protest by unions is scheduled for Thursday in Gaza City, and people took to social media platforms vowing to participate, which will raise pressure on Hamas.

DIPLOMATIC DEADLOCK

The last round of indirect ceasefire talks ended in deadlock in late July with the sides trading blame for its collapse. 

Israel says it will agree to cease hostilities if all the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its arms - the latter demand publicly rejected by the Islamist group until a Palestinian state is established.

A Hamas official told Reuters earlier on Monday the group rejects Israeli demands to disarm or expel its leaders from Gaza.

Sharp differences also appear to remain over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and how humanitarian aid will be delivered around the enclave, where malnutrition is rife and aid groups warn of unfolding famine.

U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform on Monday: "We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be."

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it was preparing to help equip Gazans with tents and other shelter equipment ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave. It did not provide further details on quantities or how long it would take to get the equipment into the enclave. 

"Existing tents where people are living (in the south) have worn out and won't protect people against rainwater. There are no new tents in Gaza because of the Israeli restrictions on aid at the border crossings," Palestinian economist Mohammad Abu Jayyab told Reuters.

He said some Gaza City families had begun renting property and shelters in the south and moved in their belongings.

"Some people learned from previous experience, and they don't want to be taken by surprise. Also, some think it is better to move earlier to find a space," Abu Jayyab added.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.  

More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel's ensuing air and ground war in Gaza, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.   

Five more Palestinians have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday, raising the number of people who died of those causes to 263, including 112 children, since the war started.

Israel disputed the figures provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Mahmoud Issa in Gaza, Jonathan Landay in Washington, Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidvin in Geneva; Editing by Howard Goller, Mark Heinrich and Alison Williams)