Egypt makes new proposal to restore Gaza truce as Israeli strikes kill 65

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Egypt has floated a new proposal aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources told Reuters on Monday, as Palestinian health authorities said Israeli strikes had killed at least 65 people in the enclave in the previous 24 hours.

The proposal, made last week, follows an escalation in violence after Israel resumed air and ground operations against Hamas militants on March 18, ending a two-month period of relative calm after 15 months of war.

Gaza health officials said Israeli airstrikes and shelling have killed nearly 700 Palestinians since then, including at least 400 women and children.

Among those killed on Monday were two local journalists, Mohammad Mansour and Hussam Shabat, medics said. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said at least 206 journalists have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since early October 2023, when the conflict erupted. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

Hamas said several of its senior political and security officials had also been killed.Later on Monday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it crossed into Israel. Warning sirens had sounded in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other areas. Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen have at times fired missiles at Israel in support of Hamas fighters.

The Egyptian plan calls for Hamas to release five Israeli hostages each week, with Israel implementing the second phase of the ceasefire after the first week, two security sources said.Both the US and Hamas have agreed to the proposal, the security sources said, but Israel has not yet responded.

A Hamas official did not confirm the proposed offer, but told Reuters that “several proposals are being discussed with the mediators to bridge the gap and to resume negotiations to reach common ground that would pave the way to start the second phase of the agreement”.

The sources said the Egyptian proposal includes a timeline for a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, backed by US guarantees, in exchange for the release of remaining hostages.Hamas has accused Israel of breaking the terms of the January ceasefire agreement but has said it is willing to negotiate a renewed truce and was studying proposals from US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) denounced on Monday the “extremely precarious” situation of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank.

According to the United Nations, some 40,000 residents have been displaced since January 21, when the Israeli army launched an operation targeting Palestinian armed groups in the north of the territory.

The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about three million Palestinians as well as nearly 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.