Mediator Egypt has presented a new Israeli proposal for a Gaza ceasefire to Hamas, Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Monday, but a senior Hamas official said at least two elements of the proposal were non-starters.
Citing sources, Al Qahera said mediators awaited Hamas' response. But senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri's assessment suggested the militant group was unlikely to agree.
Abu Zuhri told Reuters the proposal did not meet the Palestinian group's core demand that Israel commit to a complete halt of hostilities.
In the proposal, Israel also for the first time called for the disarmament of Hamas in the next phase of negotiations, which the militant group will not agree to, Abu Zuhri said.
"Handing over the resistance's weapons is a million red lines and is not subject to consideration, let alone discussion", Abu Zuhri said.
Israel restarted its offensive in the enclave in March, ending a ceasefire that went into effect in late January.
The latest round of talks on Monday in Cairo to restore the ceasefire and free Israeli hostages ended with no apparent breakthrough, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.
Hamas insists Israel commit to ending the war and pull out its forces from the Gaza Strip as agreed in the three-phase ceasefire accord that went into effect in late January.
Israel has said it will not end the war unless Hamas is eliminated and returns the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
"Hamas is ready to hand over the hostages in one batch in exchange for the end of war and the withdrawal of Israeli military" from Gaza, Abu Zuhri said.
Since restarting its military campaign last month, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,500 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities have said. It has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave.
Meanwhile, 59 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of the militants. Israel believes 24 of them are alive.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
23 Comments
GuruMick
I posted yesterday a quote from Israeli Defence Minister.
"We are disemboweling Gaza and will be enforcing the transfer of the population "
I can see how this might effect negotiations....
GuruMick
Just another reminder of the people in the IDF....
IDF bulldozer destroyed a Christian Statue of a Saint in Southern Lebanon , video available in Middle East Monitor news site.
Just hatred for Christians now too.
WoodyLee
Hamas will probably hand it's weapons if and when Israel end it's occupation of their lands.
The last time in 1982 the Palestinians Resistance gave up their weapons and evacuated from the two refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon Israeli troops under the leadership of A. Sharon along with their Lebanese partners entered the two camps and Slaughtered 3,500 Palestinians in the middle of the night.
As the Palestinians say, Never Again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre
GuruMick
80% of Gaza schools destroyed or needing major reconstruction.
People should reflect on how Israel conducts war.
NB
Using medical centers as warehouses for weaponry and as command centers for terrorism is a severe crime.
NB
That is not what happened.
GuruMick
NB....many western Doctors who worked in Gazan hospitals are on record as saying there were no Hamas fighters etc in the hospitals they worked in.
And Mosques, Churches, schools that were deliberately bombed ? Even museums ?
All had weapons in storage ?
Get real buddy....it looks silly to make the claims you make.
NB
Hamas will not end hostilities even if Israel dances rhumba. Hamas will continue its genocidal terrorism as long as Israel exists.
GuruMick
NB....would you like to comment on the Israeli Defence minister , speaking to IDF troops, that Gazan population will be forcibly relocated ?
And before Hamas, weren't there other resistance groups fighting the Israeli occupation ?
You might acknowledge that the revised Hamas Charter calls for a return to the 1967 borders, implicitly acknowledging the state of Israel within those pre war borders.
And two, it is a crime for a state , here Israel, to maintain, keep, annex and populate , areas it seized during hostilities.
So, who seems to be the intransigent actor in this conflict.
NB
Many Palestinian Arabs confirm that the terrorists do use medical centers, and resent this practice.
NB
Yes, but in the continuation Hamas intends to "cleanse" the entire land from the river to the sea from the other ethnicity. Hamas excludes any Israeli long term existence, in whatever borders.
Fos
Lets not forget that Israel IDF is responsible for the destruction of homes in occupied Gaza, hospitals, universities, schools, libraries, buildings of historical and cultural significance, cemeteries, water and agricultural facilities,.The deliberate homicidal targeting of women, children, babies, doctors and medical staff, aid workers, journalists,, and the egregious policy of blocking food, medicine and water entering the sealed territory, like it has been explained by UN agencies.
And yet the Netanyahu representatives still posting to support the mass killings of IDF soldiers
GuruMick
NB...Jews and Israelis are NOT an ethnicity.
One is a religion, anyone can join, the other is a land where you may /may not have been born.
Arab may be an ethnicity.
starpunk
Benjamin Netanyahu cannot be depended on. He is a Janus, 2-faced.
NB
The homicidal-genocidal terrorist organization Hamas is responsible for this.
Fos
Harsh, brutal and vicious occupation spurred unilaterally by United States with constant terror and atrocities. They are the military occupiers, those who defend the Israel atrocities.
Lets not forget that Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court of Justice
NB
It should be clarified as follows: The Palestinian Arabs are a nation, which is a part of a larger nation - the Arabs. The Israeli Jews are a nation, which is a part of a larger nation - the Jews (the Jewish nation is tiny, though, in comparison to the Arab nation). Every nation is an ethnicity.
wallace
Both Arabs and Jews are ethnic groups but not separate races.
NB
Both ethnic groups (nations, in fact) are Semites. They are cousins.
NB
This statement exposes your real viewpoint and agenda.
GuruMick
Wallace...good point.
My position was "ethnicity " as a racial or genetic grouping ...but Mr.AI on my keyboard includes "shared values and history " among other things.
Bit of a mixed bag then isnt it as there are Jews in India , maybe in Alaska , sharing no racial character....but sharing a history of religious thought etc.
On "religious thought " I would say delving deep into the Torah and exploring ones relationship with ones God is elemental to Judaism.
But, crikey, what new is there to be learned after 2000 years of this study.
Like waking up every century and reinventing the wheel.
Cant the Jews move on to some other study ?
Comparative religion would be a good option
GuruMick
NB...I thought "Semite " was a linguistic term invented in the 18th Century to describe similarities in language amongst various ME groups.
GuruMick
Finally, and keeping this a polite discussion, NB....you do seem to ignore serious questions I raise and ask for your opinion but you are quick with the "homicidal/genocidal/cannibalistic " colourful turn of phrase .
Is there a problem with being rational in this forum ?