Hamas ‘waiting’ for Israeli response to Gaza truce plan

Hamas is waiting for a response from Israel on its ceasefire proposal, two officials from the militant Islamist group say - five days after it accepted a key part of a US plan aimed at ending the war that began nine months ago in Gaza.

“We have left our response with the mediators and are waiting to hear the occupation’s response,” one of the two Hamas officials told Reuters on Sunday, asking not to be named.

The three-phase plan for the Palestinian enclave was put forward at the end of May by US President Joe Biden and is being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

It aims to end the war and free about 120 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.

Another Palestinian official, with knowledge of the ceasefire deliberations, said Israel was in talks with the Qataris.

“They have discussed with them Hamas’ response and they promised to give them Israel’s response within days,” the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that negotiations would continue this week but has not given any detailed timeline.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has dropped a key demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before it would sign an agreement.

Instead, it said it would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout the six-week first phase, a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

A Palestinian official close to the peace efforts has said the proposal could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel and would end the war.

US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns is travelling to Qatar for negotiations, a source familiar with the matter said.

The conflict was triggered nine months ago on October 7 when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1200 people and taking about 250 hostages in the worst assault in Israel’s history, according to official Israeli figures.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military onslaught, according to Gaza health officials, and the coastal enclave has largely been reduced to rubble.

The UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, called the situation increasingly tragic.

“Families continue to face forced displacement, massive destruction and constant fear,” it said in a post on social media platform X.

“Essential supplies are lacking, the heat is unbearable, diseases are spreading.”

Smoke rises over the Gaza Strip after an Israeli bombardment as seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border on July 3, 2024 in southern Israel. Photo / Getty Images

Protesters took to the streets across Israel on Sunday to pressure the Government to reach an accord to bring back hostages still being held in Gaza.

They blocked peak-hour traffic at major intersections across the country, picketed politicians’ houses and briefly set fire to tyres on the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway before police cleared the way.

Meanwhile, fighting continued to rage across Gaza, and north Israel came under rocket attack from Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.