CONDITIONS | Resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza,  pause in fighting

Agencies CAIRO/JERUSALEM/GAZA CITY

A new Egyptian proposal aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal won tentative support from the Hamas terror group, sources told Reuters on Monday. Israel said it had yet to receive the terms of the offer, The Times of Israel reported.

Under Cairo’s plan, Hamas would release five living hostages, including American-Israeli Edan Alexander, in return for Israel allowing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and implementing a weeks-long pause in the fighting, an Egyptian official said. After the first week, Israel would implement the second phase of the collapsed ceasefire agreement.

Israel would also release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Egypt presented the proposal last week, security sources said on Monday, with a Hamas official saying that the terror group has “responded positively” to the idea. The sources said that the plan also provides a timeline for the release of all 59 hostages in exchange for a timeline for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, backed by US guarantees. The security sources added that the US also agreed to Egypt’s plan, but an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Monday, “We haven’t heard of any new proposal.”

According to the Israeli official, Israel is still trying to get Hamas to agree to a US-backed proposal spearheaded by Trump’s special envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff, which would not entail full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip. The narrower “Witkoff proposal” rejected by Hamas thus far, would have seen the ceasefire extended through April 19 and have the terror group release five living hostages in exchange for a large number of Palestinian security prisoners.

Israel said it accepted Witkoff’s proposal, but said it was seeking the release of 11 living hostages. If Hamas does not agree to Israel’s terms, “we will keep increasing the pressure until Hamas breaks”, the official said, threatening “a widespread ground campaign” in Gaza. In mid-January, Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage-ceasefire and prisoner-release deal that officially lasted 42 days and saw the terror group release 30 living hostages and the bodies of eight slain captives, while Israel released almost 2,000 terrorists and other prisoners, before the expiration of the deal’s first phase.

The deal had originally envisioned a second phase that would see a permanent end to the war in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages and many more Palestinian security prisoners. Netanyahu ordered the resumption of fighting in Gaza last week, saying talks moving forward would be held under fire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend phase one of the ceasefire. Terror groups in the Gaza Strip still hold 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. Of these, at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.