 "Israel agrees to US ceasefire plan for 60-day truce: Report")
Israel has accepted a US proposal for a ceasefire from President Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, hours after Hamas rejected it for “not meeting demands”.
An Israeli official told CNN that the temporary truce proposal calls for the release of 10 living and 18 dead hostages and a 60-day-long ceasefire of fighting in Gaza. However, the official fell short of providing any details about ongoing discussions on a permanent ceasefire.
The source added that Hamas would agree to the release of the hostages under the 60-day ceasefire in exchange for Washington’s word that talks on a permanent truce will continue and that Israel would not attack for the stipulated 60-day period.
The proposal comes months after the two warring parties have been unable to reach a truce, forcing Gaza to enter a new level of humanitarian crisis as Israel blocked aid to the Palestinian region for months, pushing thousands into hunger.
Hamas rejects proposal
Hamas sources said last week the group had accepted a US-backed deal, but on Thursday, political bureau member Bassem Naim said the new version meant “the continuation of killing and famine… and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war”.
“Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,” he added.
A source close to the group told _AFP_the new version “is considered a retreat” from the previous one, which “included an American commitment regarding permanent ceasefire negotiations”.
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View All‘Chaotic scenes’
Gazans are storming the distribution centres of aid groups to get hold of supplies, days after relief began trickling down to the region.
Gaza’s civil defence said 54 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday, including 23 in a strike on a home in Al-Bureij, and two by Israeli gunfire near a US-backed aid centre in the Morag axis, in the south.
The centre, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), is part of a new aid distribution system designed to keep supplies from Hamas.
Gazans who went to GHF’s newly opened distribution centre in the central Netzarim corridor on Thursday described a chaotic scene.
With inputs from agencies
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