Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire plan, US says, as Hamas reviews draft

Israel has accepted a new United States proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, the White House announced, and Hamas said it was reviewing the plan.

Israeli media reported early on Friday AEST that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted a deal presented by US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Palestinians with boxes of humanitarian aid from a distribution centre in the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip, on Thursday.Credit: Bloomberg

Netanyahu’s office did not confirm the reports, but White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington that Israel had signed off on the proposal.

She did not detail its contents. But The New York Times quoted an Israeli official familiar with the proposal as saying the initial phase would include a 60-day ceasefire and humanitarian aid flowing through United Nations-run operations.

Hamas officials gave the Israeli-approved draft a cool response, but said they wanted to study the proposal more closely before giving a formal answer.

“The Zionist response, in essence, means perpetuating the occupation and continuing the killing and famine,” Bassem Naim, a top Hamas official, told the Associated Press. He said it “does not respond to any of our people’s demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine”.

Nonetheless, a Hamas official told Reuters that the Palestinian militant group, which controls Gaza, was “studying the amended Witkoff proposal with a high sense of responsibility, stemming from interest to achieve the interests of our people and ensure an end to the aggression”.

Hamas had previously said it had agreed with Witkoff on a “general framework” of an agreement that would lead to a lasting ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an influx of aid and a transfer of power from the militant group to a politically independent committee of Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a private group backed by the US and endorsed by Israel – expanded its aid distribution to a third site on Thursday.

Heavily criticised by other aid groups as inadequate and flawed, the group’s operation began this week in Gaza, where the UN has said 2 million people are at risk of famine after Israel’s 11-week blockade on aid entering the enclave.

A drone flies over Gaza Strip on Thursday.Credit: AP

The aid launch was marred by tumultuous scenes on Tuesday when thousands of Palestinians rushed distribution points and forced private security contractors to retreat.

Similar scenes unfolded during Thursday’s opening of the new aid hub in Al-Bureij, in central Gaza, The New York Times reported.

Crowds of hungry Palestinians scrambled for handouts and dodged stun grenades that were fired outside the new distribution point to disperse crowds, according to videos verified by the Times. It was unclear who had fired the stun grenades, but the Israeli military denied involvement, it reported.

In central Gaza, Associated Press video showed smoke bombs arching through the air around a distribution centre, and gunfire was audible as an Israeli tank moved nearby.

“I came to get a sack of flour … a sardine tin or anything,” said Mahmoud Ismael, a man on crutches from an earlier leg injury who said he walked for miles to get to the centre, only to leave empty-handed.

The chaotic start to the operation has raised international pressure on Israel to get more food in and halt the fighting in Gaza. GHF has so far supplied about 1.8 million meals and plans to open more sites in the coming weeks.

Witkoff told reporters on Wednesday that Washington was close to “sending out a new term sheet” about a ceasefire to the two sides in the conflict that has raged since October 2023.

“I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, [a] temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict,” Witkoff said then.

It was unclear how the proposal might overcome the deep differences between Hamas and Israel that have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March after only two months.

Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force, and that all 58 hostages still in Gaza be returned before it will agree to end the war.

Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war.

Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that have normally been reluctant to criticise it openly demanding an end to the war and a major relief effort.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. The conflict since then has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, and left the enclave in ruins.

Reuters, AP

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