Hamas response to plan spurs call for Gaza truce

A key mediator on Tuesday stressed the urgency of brokering aceasefire in the Gaza Strip after Hamas militants’ “positive response” to a proposal from Arab countries, but Israel has yet to weigh inas its military prepares an offensive in some of the territory’s most populated areas.

- SAM METZ, JON GAMBRELL AND SAMY MAGDY

AHMED Al-Hajj carries daughter Dana, 13, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The prospect of an expanded assault on Gaza City and other areas sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians has sparked international outrage. Palestinians say there is nowhere to flee after 22 months of war that has already killed tens of thousands and destroyed much of the territory.

“They are talking about a 60-day truce, and after Israel gets its [hostages] they will strike us again,” said Huda Rishe, who has been displaced four times since the war began. “We will return to Gaza City and then leave again. We have lost hope.”

AP reporters saw some families arriving in central Gaza after fleeing Gaza City.

Many Israelis, who rallied in the hundreds of thousands Sunday, fear the offensive will further endanger the remaining Gaza hostages. Just 20 of the 50 remaining are thought to be alive.

“If this [ceasefire] proposal fails” it will exacerbate the crisis, Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar's Foreign Ministry, told journalists. He said they have yet to hear from Israel on it.

Al-Ansari said Hamas had agreed to terms under discussion. He declined to provide details but said the proposal was “almost identical” to one advanced by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

That U.S. proposal was for a 60-day ceasefire, during which some of the remaining hostages would be released and the sides would negotiate a lasting ceasefire and the return of the rest.

“If we get to a deal, it shouldn't be expected that it would be instantaneously implemented,” Al-Ansari said. “We're not there yet.”