US 'hopeful' Hamas will accept new Gaza truce deal
By David Gritten
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he is “hopeful” Hamas will accept Israel’s latest proposal for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.
He called the offer “extraordinarily generous”, as a Hamas delegation discussed it with mediators in Cairo.
After weeks of impasse, a senior Hamas official was quoted as saying it had “no major issues” with the proposal.
It reportedly involves new wording on restoring calm meant to satisfy Hamas’s demand for a permanent ceasefire.
The Israeli government is coming under growing pressure from its global allies and the families of the hostages to agree a deal.
Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s cross-border attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage.
More than 34,480 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
A deal agreed in November saw Hamas release 105 of the hostages in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
