Hamas receives new Gaza truce plan: Official

CAIRO: Hamas negotiators in Cairo have received a new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, a Palestinian official said on Monday (Aug 18), with the prime minister of key mediator Qatar also in Egypt to push for a truce.

Efforts by mediators Egypt and Qatar, along with the United States, have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire in the ongoing war, which has, over more than 22 months, created a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that the latest proposal from mediators "is a framework agreement to launch negotiations on a permanent ceasefire", calling for an initial 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches.

The official said that "Hamas will hold internal consultations among its leadership" and with leaders of other Palestinian factions to review the text.

A source from Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction that has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, told AFP that the plan involved a "ceasefire agreement lasting 60 days, during which 10 Israeli hostages would be released alive, along with a number of bodies".

Out of 251 hostages taken during Hamas' October 2023 attack that triggered the war, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military says are dead.

According to the Islamic Jihad source, "the remaining captives would be released in a second phase, with immediate negotiations to follow for a broader deal" for a permanent end to "the war and aggression" with international guarantees.

The source added that "all factions are supportive of what was presented" by the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said that Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani was visiting "to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible".

Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where United Nations agencies and aid groups have warned of famine, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement.

"The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination," he said.

"DELIBERATE" STARVATION

On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire across the territory killed at least 11 people on Monday.

AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swaths of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

Meanwhile, rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of enacting a "deliberate policy" of starvation in Gaza and "systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life".

Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation.

Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 61,944 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the UN considers reliable.