Hamas response to ceasefire proposal said to include updated demands on humanitarian aid, IDF withdrawal from Gaza

24 July 2025, 8:06 am

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Demonstrators gather during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, outside the US embassy branch office in Tel Aviv on July 19, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

As Israel reviews Hamas’s latest response to a ceasefire and hostage release deal proposal, a Palestinian source familiar with the ongoing negotiations tells AFP that the terror group’s demands are mainly focused on the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of IDF troops.

The source says that Hamas is also demanding guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war, to ensure that Israel doesn’t return to fighting after the 60-day truce is up.

According to Ynet, previous guarantees on securing an end to the war have only been given orally, and Hamas is seeking to have them included in the text of the proposal.

Regarding the matter of humanitarian aid, reports in both Hebrew and Arabic media suggest that Hamas is demanding that the responsibility for bringing aid into the Gaza Strip be returned to the UN.

It is unclear from the reports whether the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation would be removed from the Strip entirely in this scenario, or if it would continue to play a role in aid distribution.

Israel’s Channel 12 reports that Hamas is demanding a more extensive withdrawal of IDF troops than Israel had proposed, with a narrower buffer zone along the Gaza border.

While sources told the Times of Israel earlier this month that Israel was pushing for a two-kilometer (1.2 mile) buffer zone around Gaza’s perimeter, the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reports that Hamas is now demanding that the buffer zone extend no further than 800 meters (0.49 miles) into the enclave.

Separately, the news outlet cites a Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations as saying that Hamas has upped the number of Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences that it expects Israel to release in exchange for each living hostage.

Hamas’s latest response to the ceasefire and hostage deal proposal was submitted just hours after a previous response was rejected by Arab mediators, who refused to even share it with the US and Israel and demanded that the terror group present something more reasonable.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.