Hamas said Tuesday it is studying a proposal issued in Paris that aims to stop the war in Gaza between the militant group and Israel.
The proposed deal between Israel and Hamas could lead to a lull in the fighting and the release of dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh “confirms that the movement has received the proposal circulated at the (Paris) meeting and that it (Hamas) is in the process of examining it and providing a response,” according to a statement published by the group.
But Haniyeh, the group’s top political leader, also said the priority is the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, something Israel opposes, and that any agreement would have to lead to a long-term ceasefire -fire.
He said Hamas leadership had been invited to Cairo to continue talks.
Israel had said that ceasefire talks held on Sunday were constructive but that “significant gaps” remained in any potential agreement.
Hamas said Tuesday it is studying a proposal issued in Paris aimed at halting the war in Gaza between the militant group and Israel.
Qatar’s prime minister – who has served as a key mediator along with Egypt and the United States – was more optimistic, saying US and Middle Eastern mediators had arrived at a framework proposal.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Atlantic Council in Washington on Monday that mediators had made “good progress.”
In the latest efforts to broker a new truce, CIA chief William Burns met top officials from Israel, Egypt and Qatar in Paris on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called the talks “constructive” but pointed out “significant gaps that the parties will continue to discuss.”
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed hope for a deal, telling reporters that “very important, productive work has been done.” And there is some real hope for the future.”
Confirmation that Hamas was exploring the proposal came as deadly fighting and bombardments continued to rock Gaza on Tuesday.
Heavy Israeli attacks and urban fighting in the besieged Gaza Strip killed another 128 people overnight, the Hamas-led Health Ministry said.
The epicenter of the fighting was the southern town of Khan Yunis – the birthplace of Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged architect of the October 7 attack.
Vast areas have been reduced to a muddy wasteland of bombed buildings.
Israel claims to have largely dismantled Hamas in Gaza.
It said planes destroyed a rocket launcher that fired a barrage of rockets into central Israel on Monday, the first rockets to target the populated area in weeks.
Troops fighting in city blocks and tunnels have raided several military sites, Sinwar’s office and “a major missile factory,” the Israeli military said.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that troops in the city had “eliminated more than 2,000 terrorists above and below ground.”
Haniyeh’s comments came after Israeli undercover forces in the West Bank killed three alleged members of a Hamas “terrorist cell” in a raid on a hospital.
Rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip (background) as a displaced Palestinian walks along the Palestinian-Egyptian border in the Rafah camp, January 29
The officers – some dressed as medical personnel and using wheelchairs and baby carriers as props – shot dead three men at Ibn Sina Hospital in the northern city of Jenin, according to officials and hospital CCTV footage released by the ministry.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa named the three men as Muhammad Jalamnah, Muhammad Ayman Ghazawi and Basel Ayman Ghazawi.
The Israeli military accused Jalamnah, reportedly “inspired” by the October 7 attack, of “having planned to carry out a terrorist attack in the near future and use the hospital as a hideout and therefore neutralized.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry stressed that hospitals enjoy special protection under international law and urged the United Nations to help end Israel’s “daily series of crimes… against our people and our health centers.”
The deadliest Gaza war on record was sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on October 7, which resulted in some 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Militants also seized 250 hostages, of whom Israel says about 132 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead prisoners.
Israel’s brutal military offensive has killed at least 26,751 people, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
Fears have grown that Israel and its ally the United States could face a widening conflict in the Middle East after months of violence involving Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Those fears were heightened after Washington vowed to respond to a drone strike Sunday that killed three U.S. troops at a remote outpost in Jordan near the Syrian and Iraqi borders.
Tehran has denied any involvement in the attack.
Washington said the attack in Jordan “requires a response,” but White House spokesman John Kirby also stressed that “we are not looking for a war with Iran.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh confirmed that “the movement has received the proposal circulated at the (Paris) meeting and it (Hamas) is examining the proposal”
Firefights with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants take place almost daily on the Israel-Lebanese border, raising fears of a wider conflict there.
Israel has said it is ready for any attack but is not seeking broader war in the north.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said late Monday that some units in Gaza were “moving north and preparing for what is to come.”
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…