Egypt urges Israel to respond to Hamas-accepted Gaza truce outline

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty stresses the importance of Israel responding to the Arab mediators’ ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas on Monday, during a phone call with US special envoy Steve Witkoff earlier today, according to an Egyptian readout.

Israel has yet to respond to the phased hostage release proposal, which is nearly identical to the one crafted by Witkoff in May, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn’t even announced the convening of a security cabinet meeting to discuss it as Jerusalem appears intent on advancing plan to take over Gaza, asserting that it will only agree to end the war if Hamas releases all of the hostages at once and agrees to Israel’s surrender terms.

In his call with Witkoff, Abdelatty updated the US envoy on the latest developments in the ceasefire talks, stressing the need to “seize the current opportunity” to bring about an end to the war, the Egyptian readout says.