Hamas is holding discussions with various Palestinian factions to decide on its response to a recent ceasefire and hostage exchange proposal from the United States. On Friday morning, President Donald Trump indicated that he would know within 24 hours if Hamas accepted the new plan. Earlier in the week, Trump announced that Israel had agreed to a ceasefire lasting two months, offering time to negotiate an end to the ongoing 20-month conflict. Despite these developments, Israeli military actions continue in the Gaza Strip.
On Friday morning, local reporters witnessed Israeli helicopters and artillery targeting areas in southern Khan Younis, resulting in explosions and gunfire. Overnight attacks claimed the lives of at least 15 Palestinians in strikes on two shelters, according to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. While the Israeli military has yet to comment on these attacks, it stated its operations focused on weakening Hamas’s military capabilities. In an early Friday statement, Hamas highlighted its ongoing talks with leaders of other Palestinian groups concerning the ceasefire offer received from mediators in Qatar and Egypt.
Hamas plans to provide a “final decision” to these mediators post-discussion, followed by an official announcement. The proposal reportedly involves a phased release of 10 live Israeli hostages and the return of 18 hostages’ bodies, in exchange for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. An estimated 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with at least 20 believed alive. Key demands from Hamas include reopening Gaza to unrestricted food and medical supplies, with assistance from the United Nations and Red Cross, as outlined in the proposal.
The plan supposedly also calls for gradual Israeli military withdrawal from specific Gaza regions, with guarantees against renewed Israeli air and ground operations post-ceasefire. Negotiations aimed at ending the conflict and freeing the remaining hostages would reportedly commence on the first day of the ceasefire. President Trump expressed to reporters on Friday morning that he anticipated news on Hamas’s decision within a day. The hope is to resume formal, indirect talks, coinciding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned visit to Washington next week.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee remarked on Thursday that while hopes are high for a deal, the outcome depends on Hamas’s willingness to agree. Netanyahu, during a visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community near the Gaza border where 76 residents were kidnapped during the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, reiterated his commitment to securing the release of all hostages. Although he assured efforts to return the hostages, he did not pledge to end the conflict until Hamas’s military capabilities were dismantled, a response to the October attack that resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 251 hostage takings.
Since then, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, at least 57,130 people have died.
