CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Egypt has put forward a new proposal aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources told Reuters on Monday, as Palestinian health authorities said Israeli strikes have killed at least 65 people in the enclave in the past 24 hours.
The proposal, made last week, follows an escalation in violence after Israel resumed air and ground operations against Hamas last Tuesday, effectively ending a two-month period of relative calm.
Health officials said Israel has killed nearly 700 Palestinians since it resumed its attacks, including at least 400 women and children.
Islamist group Hamas said several of its senior political and security officials had also been killed.
The Egyptian plan calls for Hamas to release five Israeli hostages each week, with Israel implementing the second phase of the ceasefire after the first week, two security sources said.
Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, with 24 of them thought to be still alive.
Both the U.S. and Hamas agreed to the proposal, the security sources said, but Israel has not yet responded.
A Hamas official didn’t confirm the proposed offer, but told Reuters that “several proposals are being discussed with the mediators to bridge the gap and to resume negotiations to reach common ground that would pave the way to start the second phase of the agreement.”
TIMETABLE FOR WITHDRAWAL
The sources said the Egyptian proposal also includes a timeline for Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, backed by U.S. guarantees, in exchange for the hostages’ release.
Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement but has said it is willing to negotiate a truce and was studying proposals from U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Israel says it resumed its military operations to force Hamas to release the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza.
It says it does its best to reduce harm to civilians and has questioned the death toll provided by health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave.
Palestinian officials on Sunday put the death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict at over 50,000.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
In Rafah, the local municipality said thousands of people were stuck inside the Tel Al-Sultan area, where the Israeli military sent some of its forces, with families trapped among the ruins, with no water, food, or medicine.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 50,000 residents remained cornered in Rafah.
The Israeli military said troops had encircled Tel Al-Sultan to dismantle “terror infrastructure sites and eliminate terrorists in the area.”
U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA said 124,000 people have been displaced in Gaza in recent days.
“Families carry what little they have with no shelter, no safety, and nowhere left to go. The Israeli authorities have cut off all aid. Food is scarce and prices are soaring. This is a humanitarian catastrophe. The siege must end,” it said on X.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and Ahmed Shalaby; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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