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Palestinian group Hamas said Friday it submitted a response to mediators on a new proposal for a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange, describing the reply as “positive.”
In a written statement, Hamas said the response to the cease-fire and prisoner exchange proposal was given after consultations with Palestinian political groups and conveyed to the mediators.
The group added it is ready to “immediately” enter negotiations on a mechanism to implement the mediators’ latest cease-fire proposal.
Earlier, Reuters reported that Hamas handed its response to the U.S.-brokered Gaza cease-fire proposal to mediators, citing a Palestinian official familiar with the talks.
No official statement has yet been issued from Tel Aviv regarding Hamas’s response.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to hold a political and security cabinet meeting Saturday evening ahead of his planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on July 7.
Trump had announced that Israel agreed to the necessary conditions for a 60-day cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
He also noted that Qatar and Egypt, mediators in the talks, will present Hamas with the “final offer.”
The Israel resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip on March 18 and has since killed 6,710 people and injured 23,584 others, shattering a cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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