Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said the Palestinian militant group was evaluating Israel’s proposal.
Hamas said on Saturday it was reviewing a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, as Egypt intensified efforts to broker a deal to end the months-long war and stave off a possible Israeli ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Negotiations earlier this month centred on a six-week ceasefire proposal and the release of 40 civilian and sick hostages in exchange for freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. It was not immediately clear whether Israel’s latest response to Hamas on a ceasefire was directly related to Friday’s visit to Tel Aviv by Egyptian mediators.
As the war drags on and casualties mount, there has been growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach an agreement on a ceasefire and avert a possible Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge after fleeing fighting elsewhere in the territory.
The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles in southern Israel close to Rafah and hit targets in the city in near-daily airstrikes.Early on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, killing six people, including four children, according to officials at a local hospital.
The Palestinian group has said it will not back down from its demands for a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops, both of which Israel has rejected.
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