Doubts grow over Gaza truce deal
Doubts grew yesterday over the fate of a Gaza truce plan that, as the week began, had raised hopes of an end to nearly seven months of Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel was still waiting for Hamas's response to the latest proposal, said an Israeli official not authorised to speak publicly.
Mediators have proposed a deal that would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange Israeli hostages for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, according to details released earlier by Britain.
Any such deal would be the first since a one-week truce in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Humanitarians are struggling to get aid to Gaza's 2.4 million people, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled to Rafah, the territory's southernmost point, the United Nations says.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said yesterday the Palestinian group was studying a proposal for a truce with a "positive spirit".
In a call to Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Haniyeh said he "appreciated the role played by Egypt", which along with Qatar and the United States is mediating the talks, and "stressed the positive spirit of the movement in studying the ceasefire proposal", according to a statement on Hamas's official website.
Regardless of whether a truce is reached, Netanyahu vows to send Israeli troops into Rafah against Hamas fighters there. US officials reiterated their opposition to such an operation without a plan to protect the civilians.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged the Hamas to accept the truce plan. "Hamas needs to say yes and needs to get this done," Blinken said Wednesday while in Israel on his latest Middle East mission.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 34,596 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during almost seven months of Israeli offensive. The tally includes at least 28 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said.
Top Israeli ministers were set to convene yesterday to discuss a proposed Gaza truce to free some hostages held by Hamas, as well as prospects for an army sweep of the southern tip of the enclave, a government source said.
In early April there had also been initial optimism over a possible truce deal, only to have Israel and Hamas later accuse each other of undermining negotiations.
Following a meeting with Blinken, Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid insisted that Netanyahu "doesn't have any political excuse not to move to a deal for the release of the hostages".
Fallout from the Gaza fighting has spread throughout the Middle East, including to the Red Sea region where commercial shipping has been disrupted.
US and allied warships have regularly shot down suspected drones and missiles fired by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels who say they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
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