Israel-Hamas cease-fire proposal stirs up Gaza battle | EUROtoday

Speaking throughout a information convention together with his Spanish counterpart, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry mentioned, “Hamas’s initial statements indicate that it received the deal proposal positively, and we are waiting for the Israeli response.”

The proposal has divided public opinion in Israel, the place greater than 100,000 stuffed the streets of Tel Aviv this previous weekend in help of the deal, demanding that the Israeli authorities settle for it to hasten the discharge of hostages held in Gaza.

The proposal, nonetheless, additionally raised the ire of members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, who threatened to carry down the federal government if the deal is accepted.

Opposition chief Yair Lapid, nonetheless, has mentioned that he would offer backing to Netanyahu’s authorities to maintain it from collapsing if it accepts the deal.

“The Israeli government must agree to the Netanyahu proposal and send a delegation to Cairo today to finalize the details,” he mentioned. “I am repeating my offer to give Netanyahu a political safety net to carry out the deal.”

The Americans have mentioned the proposal was initially introduced by Israel and features a six-week halt in preventing, throughout which hostages taken from Israel throughout Hamas’s blitz on Oct. 7 could be launched in phases in alternate for tons of of Palestinian prisoners. There would even be a big improve in support shipments allowed into the Gaza Strip, the place support organizations have warned {that a} humanitarian disaster is underway.

In a press release relayed by his workplace through the every day briefing, Netanyahu mentioned “the outline that President Biden presented is partial. The war will be stopped for the purpose of returning hostages, and then we will proceed with further discussions. There are other details which the U.S. president did not present to the public.”

The predominant level of competition for this and previous proposals, nonetheless, stays how and when the conflict will formally finish. Israel insists on the entire destruction of Hamas.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a Netanyahu rival inside his personal social gathering, spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday evening and mentioned Israel envisions creating a substitute for Hamas to run Gaza.

“Putting a governmental alternative to Hamas will help to bring them home,” he mentioned in a press release issued by the Defense Ministry. He advised Blinken the safety institution is selling measures to dismantle Hamas’s function because the governing and army authority in Gaza and allow the institution of an alternate energy that might overthrow Hamas rule and exert stress to return hostages.

Hamas responded to Biden’s speech on Friday, saying that it seen the deal positively however that its willingness to interact was “based on a permanent cease-fire” and the entire withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu has been below competing pressures for weeks: Those for a deal embody average members of his conflict cupboard and the households of hostages. On the opposite facet are extra excessive companions in his coalition, who’ve maintained that an “absolute victory” should be achieved in Gaza. Biden’s public announcement of the cease-fire proposal has fanned the flames of those tensions.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian refugees, mentioned Monday that greater than 1,000,000 Palestinians have fled from Rafah since Israeli floor operations began final month and that almost all are sheltering within the ruins of the town of Khan Younis. “Conditions are unspeakable,” the company mentioned on X.

The Maldives will impose a ban on Israeli passport holders getting into the nationthe president’s workplace introduced Monday, following a suggestion from the cupboard. The president will appoint a particular envoy “to assess Palestinian needs” and arrange a fundraising marketing campaign to “assist our brothers and sisters in Palestine” with the assistance of UNRWA.

The Israel Defense Forces mentioned it recognized the physique of Dolev Yehud, 35, a paramedic who left his home on Oct. 7 “in an attempt to save lives.” His physique was present in Kibbutz Nir Oz, and his household was notified after it was recognized by medical officers. The prime minister’s workplace mentioned the variety of hostages nonetheless being held in Gaza has been up to date to 124, of which not less than 39 have been declared useless. These figures embody 4 Israelis held for a decade: two of them troopers confirmed useless and the 2 others civilians whose fates are unknown.

At least 20 individuals had been killed in three in a single day strikes that hit central and southern elements of the Gaza StripGaza’s civil protection spokesman mentioned. The IDF mentioned Monday it’s persevering with operations in Rafah and the central Gaza Strip.

At least 36,479 individuals have been killed and 82,777 injured in Gaza for the reason that conflict began, in keeping with the Gaza Health Ministrywhich doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants however says the vast majority of the useless are ladies and youngsters. Israel estimates about 1,200 individuals had been killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault, together with greater than 300 troopers, and it says 287 troopers have been killed for the reason that launch of its army operations in Gaza.

Heba Farouk Mahfouz in Cairo, Shira Rubin, Lior Soroka and Alon Rom in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.