Israel Backs U.S. Ceasefire Deal in Gaza, Hamas Response Uncertain

Israel has accustomed a new U.S. angle for an acting armistice with Hamas, the White House said Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s appropriate envoy, Steve Witkoff, bidding optimism beforehand this anniversary about brokering an acceding to arrest the Israel-Hamas war and acknowledgment added of the hostages captured in the advance that afire it.

White House columnist secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Israel “backed and supported” the new proposal.

Hamas admiral gave the Israeli-approved abstract an air-conditioned response but said they capital to abstraction the angle added carefully afore giving an academic answer.

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“The Zionist response, in essence, agency assiduity the activity and continuing the killing and famine,” Bassem Naim, a top Hamas official, told The Associated Press. He said it “does not acknowledge to any of our people’s demands, foremost amid which is endlessly the war and famine.”

Nonetheless, he said the accumulation would abstraction the angle “with all civic responsibility.”

Hamas had ahead said it had agreed with Witkoff on a “general framework” of an acceding that would advance to a abiding ceasefire, a abounding Israeli abandonment from Gaza, an arrival of aid, and a alteration of ability from the active accumulation to a politically absolute board of Palestinians.

Here’s what’s accepted about the arising negotiations that aim to accompany about an continued accord in the war in barter for hostages that abide in captivity:

What do Israel and Hamas want?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned to end the war until all the hostages have appeared and Hamas is either destroyed or disarmed and beatific into exile. He has said Israel will ascendancy Gaza indefinitely and facilitate what he refers to as the autonomous abandonment of abundant of its population.

Palestinians and best of the all-embracing association accept alone affairs to displace Gaza’s population, a move experts say would acceptable breach all-embracing law.

Hamas has said it will alone absolution the actual hostages its alone acceding dent in acknowledgment for added Palestinian prisoners, an abiding armistice and an abounding Israeli withdrawal. It has offered to accord up ability to a board of politically absolute Palestinians that could baby-sit reconstruction.

Hamas is still captivation 58 hostages. About a third are believed to be alive, admitting abounding abhorrence they are in grave crisis the best the war goes on. Bags of Palestinians accept been asleep aback Israel renewed its airstrikes and arena operations afterwards catastrophe a armistice in March.

The altercation over whether there should be an acting armistice to absolution added hostages as Israel has alleged for or an abiding one as Hamas wants has bedeviled talks brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar for added than a year and a half, and there’s no adumbration it has been resolved.

What is the latest armistice proposal?

Witkoff has not publicized his latest proposal, but a Hamas official and an Egyptian official apart accepted some of the details. They batten on action of anonymity to altercate the acute talks.

They say it calls for a 60-day abeyance in fighting, guarantees of austere negotiations arch to a abiding accord and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities afterwards the absolution of hostages, as it did in March. Israeli armament would cull aback to the positions they captivated during the armistice Israel concluded that month.

Hamas would absolution 10 active hostages and a cardinal of bodies during the 60-day abeyance in barter for added than 1,100 Palestinians confined by Israel, including 100 confined continued sentences afterwards actuality bedevilled of baleful attacks.

Each day, hundreds of trucks accustomed aliment and altruistic aid would be accustomed to access Gaza, area experts say a about three-month Israeli barricade hardly eased in contempt canicule has pushed the citizenry to the border of famine.

Why is it so adamantine to end the war?

Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. Added than bisected the hostages accept been appear in ceasefires or added deals. Israel has rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies.

Israel’s after aggressive advance has asleep over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how abounding of the asleep were civilians or combatants.

The abhorrent has destroyed all-inclusive areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its citizenry of almost 2 actor Palestinians, with hundreds of bags active in abominable covering camps and bare schools.

Hamas has been awfully depleted militarily and absent about all of its top leaders in Gaza. It best acceptable fears that absolution all the hostages after accepting a abiding armistice would acquiesce Israel to barrage an alike added adverse advance to ultimately abort the group.

Israel fears that a abiding armistice and abandonment now would leave Hamas with cogent access in Gaza, alike if it surrenders academic power. With time, Hamas ability be able to clean its aggressive ability and eventually barrage added Oct. 7-style attacks.

Netanyahu additionally faces political constraints: His far-right affiliation ally accept threatened to accompany bottomward his government if he ends the war too soon. That would leave him added accessible to case on longstanding bribery accuse and to investigations into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack.

A broader resolution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian battle appears added abroad than ever.

The Palestinians are anemic and divided, and Israel’s accepted government the best nationalist and religious in its history is against to Palestinian demands for an accompaniment in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel active in the 1967 Mideast war.

The aftermost austere accord talks bankrupt bottomward added than 15 years ago.