Hamas has accepted a US offer to start talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, a senior Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday, 16 days after the first phase of a deal aimed at ending the Gaza war collapsed.
The Hamas group has dropped its demand that Israel commit to a permanent ceasefire before the deal is signed, and would be allowed to achieve that goal through talks during a six-week first phase, the source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
A Palestinian official involved in internationally brokered peace efforts said if Israel accepts the proposal, it could lead to a framework agreement and end the nine-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
A source in Israel’s negotiating team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that there was now every chance of reaching an agreement. This is a sharp departure from previous instances in the nine-month war in Gaza, when Israel had said conditions imposed by Hamas were unacceptable.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. On Friday, his office said talks would continue next week and stressed that differences between the two sides still remain.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 38,000 Palestinians since Hamas began attacking southern Israeli cities on October 7, according to Gaza health officials, with official Israeli figures including 1,200 killed and about 250 taken hostage.
The Hamas source said the new proposal ensures that mediators will guarantee a temporary ceasefire, aid deliveries and the withdrawal of Israeli troops while indirect talks continue to implement the second phase of the agreement.
Efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and release hostages have intensified in recent days, as has active shuttle diplomacy between Washington, Israel and Qatar, which is leading mediation efforts from Doha, where the exiled Hamas leadership is based.
A regional source said the US administration was working hard to ensure a deal was reached before the presidential election in November.
Netanyahu said on Friday that the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency had returned from an initial meeting with mediators in Qatar and that talks would continue next week.
On Saturday, some of the hostages’ families gave a statement to reporters ahead of the weekly hostage rally held in Tel Aviv, in which they called on Netanyahu to move forward with the agreement.
“For the first time in many months we have a ray of hope,” said Einav Zangouker, the mother of Matan Zangouker, 24, who was abducted from her kibbutz home on October 7. “This is an opportunity that cannot be missed,” she added.
rage of battle
Meanwhile, health officials in the region said Israeli forces have intensified military attacks across the region, leaving at least 29 Palestinians killed and 100 others injured in the past 24 hours.
According to the media office of the Hamas-led Gaza government, five local journalists were among those killed in separate air strikes, raising the number of journalists killed since October 7 to 158.
Health officials said the Israeli army has stepped up its presence in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. On Saturday, an airstrike hit an Israeli army vehicle, killing four Palestinian policemen and wounding eight others.
The four included Fares Abdel-Al, head of the police force in the western Rafah neighborhood of Tel al-Sultan, a statement issued by the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said.
The Israeli military said forces continued “intelligence-based operations” in Rafah, destroying several underground structures, seizing weapons and equipment and killing several Palestinian gunmen.
Israel said its operation in Rafah was aimed at eliminating the last armed Hamas battalions.
Ten Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the al-Nuseirat camp, one of eight historic refugee camps in the region, medics said.
The Israeli military said it destroyed a Hamas rocket cell that was operating from inside a humanitarian-designated zone. It said it carried out the precision strike after taking measures to protect civilians. Hamas has denied Israeli accusations that it uses civilian property for military purposes.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces in several areas with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
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