Hamas proposes new six-week Gaza truce, hostage-prisoner exchange
The plan would see the release of 42 hostages Hamas seized during its October 7 attack in Israel in exchange for 2050 Palestinian prisoners; Gaza officials accuse Israel of opening fire on a crowd awaiting aid, killing 20 and injuring 50
Hamas has proposed a new sixweek truce in Gaza and an exchange of several dozen Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official from the militant group said on Friday.
“The agreement is for a sixweek ceasefire and a prisoner exchange,” the official said, adding that the group would want this to lead to “a complete (Israeli) withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a permanent ceasefire”.
During the truce, Gaza proposed militants would release about 42 hostages seized during the October 7 attack that triggered the war in Gaza, the official said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
The official said that between 20 and 50 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails would be released per hostage — down from a previous proposal of a roughly 100toone ratio, according to a Hamas source in late February.
The Hamas proposal also calls to ramp up the flow of humanitarian aid, the official added.
The terms of an eventual ceasefire would see Israel’s “complete military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”, according to the official.
“Egypt and Qatar, along with the United States, are responsible for following up and ensuring the implementation of the agreement,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamasrun Health Ministry said on Friday that Israeli fire killed 20 people and wounded 155 waiting to receive desperately needed aid in the besieged territory, but Israel said the reports were “erroneous”.
The Health Ministry in Gaza accused Israeli troops of opening fire from “tanks and helicopters” as Palestinians gathered at a roundabout in Gaza City in the north, revising upward an initial toll of 11 killed and 100 wounded.
The Israeli military denied it had opened fire on the crowd.