.png)
Hamas response to ceasefire and hostage release plan said to be 'negative' but discussions continue
A senior Hamas official overnight has told the AFP news agency that at the moment the group’s response to the proposed truce deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar was “negative”, but that discussions were still under way.
The group’s aim remains an “end to this war”, Suhail al-Hindi told AFP. The group is understood to be seeking a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the ground in Gaza, with the proposal that there would then be a lengthy rebuilding programme for the territory during which it undertook not to rebuild any military facilities.
That is at odds with the stated aims of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has signalled that Israel intends to mount a ground operation in Rafah regardless of the outcome of a deal. Israel argues that Hamas fighters have fled to the south of the Strip. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal,” Netanyahu said this week.
The outline of the hostage release programme that has been proposed is believed to be a 40 day pause in fighting while initially women are released in batches of three every three days. Hamas and other groups are believed to have seized and abducted about 250 people on 7 October from inside southern Israel, with 133 of them thought still held captive, not all of whom are believed to be alive.
Hamas official Hindi, speaking to AFP by phone from an undisclosed location, said there is “great interest from Hamas and all Palestinian resistance factions to end this insane war on the Palestinian people, which has consumed everything”.
“But it will not be at any cost,” he added, stressing that the group “cannot under any circumstances raise the white flag or surrender to the conditions of the Israeli enemy”.
On Wednesday Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry called on all sides to “show the necessary flexibility” to achieve a deal “that stops the bloodshed of Palestinians”. The Hamas-led health ministry has put the death toll in Gaza at over 35,000.
Visiting the region in the last few days, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Hamas were the only obstacle to securing a pause in fighting, and that they need to “decide quickly” to accept what he described as a “generous” offer from Israel.
Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Welcome and opening summary
Welcome to our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I am Martin Belam and I will be with you for the next while.
Israel’s military chief of staff has said the country is “preparing for an offensive in the north” as he met troops on the Lebanon border. He also said the offensive operation in Gaza “will continue with strength”, without elaborating further on the remarks.
Fears have been growing that Israel could launch a ground offensive on the Lebanon-based militia group Hezbollah that could trigger a wider regional conflict.
Since Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel in the south, the Iran-allied group has been firing rockets and mortars at the exposed northern Israeli villages and farms next the UN-controlled Blue Line that separates the two countries. Israel has retaliated with its own attacks.
The back-and-forth fire has killed 16 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians, as well as 71 Lebanese civilians and about 500 fighters from the powerful Iran-allied group and other factions while tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the boundary have fled their homes.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
Israel’s leaders were under renewed pressure to allow more aid into Gaza on Wednesday after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told Benjamin Netanyahu to “accelerate and sustain improvements” seen during recent days in the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching the territory.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has met leaders in Israel and also the families of some of those held hostage in Gaza. He told the families to “keep the faith”, and said after meeting president Isaac Herzog “Even in these very difficult times we are determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home – and to get it now. And the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas.”
Hamas has asked Egyptian and Qatari mediators to provide clarity on the terms of the latest ceasefire proposal being discussed as part of negotiations with Israel, an Egyptian official told Associated Press on Wednesday. The official said Hamas wants clear terms for the unconditional return of displaced people to the north of Gaza and to ensure that the second stage of the deal will include discussing the gradual and complete withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the entire Gaza Strip.
Jordan said some Israeli settlers attacked two of its aid convoys that were on the way to Gaza on Wednesday. It said the attack resulted in the dumping of some of their cargo, which included food, flour, and other necessities, in the streets. Honenu, an Israeli legal aid agency, reported that four men who had “blocked aid trucks going to Gaza” as they were passing near the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim were arrested by Israeli police.
The Hamas-led health ministry has issued updated casualty figures, claiming that at least 34,568 Palestinians have been killed and 77,765 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
The University of California in Los Angeles was reeling on Wednesday following a late-night violent attack by counter-demonstrators on a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, as the state’s governor condemned a slow response from law enforcement to some of the worst violence seen since students across the US intensified their protests in support of Gaza.
Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges spread on Wednesday after campus hotspots intensified overnight, leading to some violence and hundreds more arrests amid widespread controversy over universities calling in police and claims about “outside agitators” driving escalation.
Colombia’s president has announced that his government will sever diplomatic relations with Israel, in the latest escalation of a furious row between the countries over the war in Gaza. Addressing a May Day rally in Bogotá on Wednesday, Gustavo Petro again described Israel’s siege of Gaza as “genocide”. “Tomorrow [Thursday] diplomatic relations with the state of Israel will be severed … for having a government, for having a president that is genocidal,” Petro said.
