Hamas responds to US proposal by demanding permanent Gaza ceasefire
As part of its counter-proposal, Hamas has agreed to release 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 deceased ones for 125 Palestinian prisoners and 1,111 detained Gazans.
Hamas says it has responded to a US proposal for a temporary ceasefire, reiterating long-standing demands of "a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensure the flow of aid to our people and our families in the Gaza Strip,"
None of these conditions were included in the original draft proposal by the US, which Israeli officials have accepted.
In a statement, Hamas said 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 deceased ones would be released in exchange for "an agreed upon number of Palestinian prisoners."
According to the initial US proposal, the fighting would stop for 60 days and see the release of some of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and much-needed food aid and other assistance, according to Hamas and Egyptian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Food trucks raided
Palestinians in Gaza blocked and offloaded 77 food trucks, the UN World Food Programme said, as hunger mounts following Israel's blockade of the territory. The WFP said the aid, mostly flour, was taken before the trucks could reach their destination.
The nearly three-month blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of over 2 million to the brink of famine. While pressure slightly eased in recent days as Israel allowed some aid to enter, aid organisations say far from enough food is getting in.
The United Nations said earlier this month that Israeli authorities have forced them to use unsecured routes within areas controlled by Israel's military in the eastern areas of Rafah and Khan Younis, where armed gangs are active and trucks have been stopped in the past.
Israeli strikes continue
Israel has in the mean time continued its military campaign across Gaza, saying it struck dozens of targets over the past day. Health officials in Gaza have said at least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.
The ministry said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire early Saturday in Rafah. Three others were killed — parents and a child — when their car was struck in Gaza City. An Israeli strike hit another car in Gaza City, killing four. And an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, killing six, said Weam Fares, a spokesperson for Nasser Hospital.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages. Of those taken captive, 58 remain in Gaza. Israel believes 35 are dead and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several others.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.
Hamas seeks amendments to Gaza ceasefire
proposal, US envoy slams them as
‘unacceptable’
Militant group Hamas on Saturday responded to a Washington-backed plan for a ceasefire in Gaza by seeking amendments to it, including for the truce to be permanent and for Israel to fully withdraw its forces from the enclave. Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East who has worked on the proposal, reacted with outrage, calling the changes “totally unacceptable”.
Issued on: 31/05/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable.”
The Palestinian militant group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, conditions Israel has rejected.
A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments. The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.
“This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.
The proposals would see a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
Trump said on Friday he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the terms.
Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Witkoff wrote in a posting on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”
The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on Saturday it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.
The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than 2 million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.
On Saturday, aid groups said dozens of World Food Programme trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.
‘Mass tragedy unfolding'
The United Nations said on Friday the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier this month.
“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinians, said in a message on X.
Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the World Food Programme and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.
A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.
However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centres and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Israel began its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.
The campaign has laid waste large areas of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians and destroying or damaging most of its buildings, leaving most of the population in makeshift shelters.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
Israel says Hamas must accept US deal or be ‘annihilated’, Trump says Gaza truce ‘close’
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Friday warned Hamas to accept a US ceasefire proposal "or be annihilated". While the Paletinian militant group said it was still reviewing the plan, US President Donald Trump said an agreement on a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was "very close".
Issued on: 30/05/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: Noga TARNOPOLSKY
Israel's defence minister on Friday warned Hamas to accept a ceasefire proposal submitted by US envoy Steve Witkoff "or be annihilated", after the group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands.
In a statement, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military was acting in Gaza "with full force", adding: "The Hamas murderers will now be forced to choose: accept the terms of the 'Witkoff Deal' for the release of the hostages – or be annihilated."
Hamas on Friday said it was still reviewing the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, where 27 people were killed in new Israeli air strikes, according to hospital officials.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said he believes an agreement on a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was "very close".
"They're very close to an agreement on Gaza," Trump told reporters during a joint news conference with Elon Musk at the White House. "We'll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow. And we have a chance of that."
Hamas reviewing ceasefire proposal
But the ceasefire plan has so far got a cool reaction from Hamas.
US negotiators have not publicised the terms of the proposal. But a Hamas official and an Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said Thursday that it called for a 60-day pause in fighting, guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages, as it did in March.
In a terse statement issued Friday, Hamas said it is holding consultations with Palestinian factions over the proposal it had received from Witkoff.
While changes may have been made to the proposal, the version confirmed earlier called for Israeli forces to pull back to the positions they held before it ended the last ceasefire. Hamas would release 10 living hostages and a number of bodies during the 60-day pause in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 100 serving long sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.
Each day, hundreds of trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter Gaza, where experts say a nearly three-month Israeli blockade — slightly eased in recent days — has pushed the population to the brink of famine.
'War of starvation, death, siege'
The uncertainty over the new proposal came as hospital officials said that 27 people had been killed Friday in separate air strikes. A strike that hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 13, including eight children, hospital officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 12 people, including three women, were brought to Shifa Hospital on Friday from the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of two others were brought to a hospital in Gaza City.
Hospital officials also said Friday that at least 72 had been killed in Gaza during the previous day. That figure does not include some hospitals in the north, which are largely cut off due to the fighting.
Since the war began, more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children, have been killed according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages. Of those taken captive, 58 remain in Gaza, but Israel believes 35 are dead and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several others.
Some Gaza residents said their hope for a ceasefire is tempered by repeated disappointment over negotiations that failed to deliver a lasting deal.
"This is the war of starvation, death, siege and long lines for food and toilets,” Mohammed Abed told The Associated Press in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. “This war is the 2025 nightmare, 2024 nightmare and 2023 nightmare.”
Abed said he and his family struggle to find food, waiting three hours to get a small amount of rice and eating only one meal daily.
“It’s heartbreaking that people are being starved because of politics. Food and water should not be used for political purposes,” he said.
Another Gaza resident, Mohammed Mreil, said about the possibility of a truce that: “We want to live and we want them (Israelis) to live. God did not create us to die.”
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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