Hamas to submit answer to Israeli truce proposal Monday

A senior Hamas official tells AFP that the group would deliver its response to Israel’s latest counterproposal for a Gaza truce on Monday in Egypt.

“A Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya will arrive in Egypt tomorrow… and deliver the movement’s response” to the Israeli proposal during a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, the official who declined to be named says.

Mediator Egypt sent its own delegation to Israel this week to jump-start stalled negotiations even as fighting in the Gaza Strip rages.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been unsuccessfully trying to broker a new Gaza truce deal ever since a one-week halt to the fighting in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Diplomatic efforts have been stepped up in recent days to reach a truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza.

US news website Axios, citing two Israeli officials, reports that Israel’s latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after hostages are released.

It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios says.

“Hamas is open to discussing the new proposal positively,” another Hamas source close to the negotiations tells AFP.

The source adds that the group is “keen to reach an agreement that guarantees a permanent ceasefire, the free return of displaced people, an acceptable deal for [a prisoner] exchange and ensuring an end to the [Gaza] siege.”