Hamas announced on Friday evening to be ready to “immediately start” negotiations on the implementation of a cease-fire agreement proposal in Gaza where, according to the Civil Defense, the Israeli offensive left 52 dead in 24 hours.
The announcement of Hamas comes before a trip on Monday to Washington of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to meet President Donald Trump, who puts pressure on a cease-fire in Gaza, devastated by almost 21 months of war.
At the end of “internal consultations and with (other Palestinian forces)”, the Palestinian Islamist movement said in a statement being “ready to immediately and seriously initiate a cycle of negotiations on the implementation mechanism” of a proposal for a truce sponsored by Washington and which was transmitted to it by the mediation of Qatar and Egypt.
According to a Palestinian source close to discussions, the proposal “includes a 60 -day truce” during which Hamas would release half of the Israeli hostages still alive in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Islamic jihad, the main Palestinian movement ally of Hamas, argued the principle of negotiations. In a press release, he said he wanted to “go to an agreement” while asking for “additional guarantees” allowing to ensure that Israel “will not resume his assault” once the hostages have been released.
The Israeli army continued its offensive on Friday in the besieged and hungry Gaza Strip, the civil defense reporting 52 Palestinians killed in air raids, bombings and fire, including 11 near humanitarian aid sites.
“They shoot us”
Given the restrictions imposed by Israel on the media and the difficulties of access to the field, AFP is not able to independently check the claims of the civil defense in Gaza.
At the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younès (South), where Palestinian bodies wrapped in plastic shrouds were transported, men recite the prayer of the dead.
Next to it, crying women surround the body of a loved one.
“My son went to get flour!” They say “come and get the aid”, we go there and they shoot us, ”laments Nidaa al-Farra, who lost his 19-year-old son near a help distribution site.
The distribution of aid has been managed since the end of May by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization for opaque funding supported by Israel and the United States.
The UN said that more than 500 people had been killed since the end of May near the GHF sites. The foundation denies any incident “nearby” of its sites.
Asked about the bombings reported by the civil defense (an organization of first aid), the Israeli army said “conducting operations to dismantle the military capacities of Hamas”. She also reported “death in combat” of a soldier in Gaza.
The NGO Doctors Sans Frontières said that one of its former collaborators, Abdallah Hammad, was among the Palestinians killed Thursday as they were waiting for aid trucks near Khan Younès.
This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to eliminate “to the root” Hamas while indicating that the primary priority was to bring back “all” the hostages still detained, to Gaza, “without exception”.
The war was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 49 are still retained in Gaza, 27 of whom were declared dead by the Israeli army.
“Permanent” ceases
Donald Trump assured Tuesday that Israel had agreed to finalize the terms of a ceasefire and urged Hamas to accept it, evoking a close agreement.
Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, publicly demands a “permanent” ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
A first truce of a week in November 2023 then a second of two months in early 2025 in Gaza, allowed the return of many Israeli hostages in exchange for the Palestinian Liberation held by Israel.
In March, for lack of agreement on the continuation of the ceasefire, Israel cut the arrival of humanitarian aid in Gaza (only partially loosening its blockade in May) before resuming its offensive on the small coastal territory, where some 2.4 million Palestinians live in terrible conditions according to the UN and NGOs.
The attack on October 7 – left 1,219 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official data.
At least 57,268 Palestinians, mainly civilians, were killed in the Israeli military reprisal campaign on the Gaza Strip, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Government of Hamas for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.
