Al Jazeera:
Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire proposal put forth by the United States for Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s sources, but an American official rejected the claim and said the deal being discussed was “unacceptable” and “disappointing”.
Israeli officials also denied that the proposal was from the US, saying on Monday that no Israeli government could accept it, according to the Reuters news agency.
The conflicting reports came as Israeli forces kept up their relentless bombardment of starving Palestinians in Gaza, and continued to severely restrict the entry of aid into the besieged enclave.
Medical sources say at least 81 people, including many children, were killed in Israel’s attacks on Monday alone.
Al Jazeera’s sources said Hamas and the US’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, agreed to the draft deal at a meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha. They said it includes a 60-day ceasefire, and the release of 10 living captives held in Gaza, over two stages.
US President Donald Trump would guarantee the terms of the deal and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The agreement would also allow for the entry of humanitarian aid, without conditions, from day one, the sources said.
Witkoff, however, rejected the notion that it was his proposal that Hamas had accepted, telling Reuters that what he had seen was “completely unacceptable”.
A US source close to Witkoff also told Al Jazeera that Hamas’s claims were “inaccurate” and what the Palestinian group was offering was “disappointing”.
Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, cited the official as saying that the proposal the US has put on the table is only a “temporary ceasefire agreement” with Israel.
“What this would do is allow for half of the living captives, as well as half of the deceased, to be returned,” she said.
“In turn, the White House believes this would lead towards a diplomatic path of discussions that could result in a permanent ceasefire. And this is the deal that the source tells Al Jazeera is what Hamas should take,” she added.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
In Israel, meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a recorded message on social media, promising to bring back the 58 Israeli captives remaining in Gaza, of whom some 20 are believed to still be alive.
“If we don’t achieve it today, we will achieve it tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow. We are not giving up,” Netanyahu said.
“We intend to bring them all back, the living and the dead,” he added.
