Hamas leaders are close to accepting a proposed deal for a ceasefire in Gaza but want stronger guarantees that any pause in hostilities would lead to a permanent end to the 20-month war, sources close to the militant Islamist organisation have said.
Hamas officials met on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the new ceasefire proposals and later issued a statement confirming they were talking to other “Palestinian factions” before formally announcing a response.
The militant Islamist group has come under immense pressure in recent months, with its military leadership decimated and the Israeli military forcing its fighters out of former strongholds in the southern and central parts of Gaza.
In recent days, Israel has ramped up its offensive, launching an intense wave of airstrikes across Gaza, killing more than 250 Palestinians, according to medical and civil defence officials, including many women and children.
Hardline factions within Hamas have now reluctantly accepted the need for a ceasefire to allow the organisation to regroup and plan a new strategy, one source familiar with the internal debate said.
Since a previous ceasefire collapsed in March, more than 6,000 people have been killed in Gaza and an acute humanitarian crisis has worsened.
Efforts for a new truce in Gaza gathered momentum after the US secured a ceasefire to end the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran last month.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, is expected to fly to Washington on Sunday for talks with Trump about the war in Gaza, the recent war between Israel and Iran, and other regional issues.
Netanyahu has long resisted a permanent end to the war in Gaza, partly to retain the support of far-right allies in his ruling coalition. But Israel’s successes in the war with Iran have strengthened his political position and opinion polls in Israel show strong support for a deal.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalise a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties will work to end the war.
Israel’s security cabinet met on Thursday night to discuss options for Gaza, including an escalation of the current offensive.
“Judging by the signals from Hamas, there is a high probability that we will start proximity talks in the next few days. If there is consent to proximity talks, there will be a deal,” senior Israeli officials told Channel 12, a major Israeli TV network.
A senior Israeli official close to Netanyahu told Reuters that preparations were now in place to approve the ceasefire deal. Another Israeli source said that an Israeli delegation was preparing to join indirect talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt to cement the deal if Hamas responded positively.
The proposal includes the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the Hamas attack into southern Israel in October 2023 that triggered the conflict, and the return of the bodies of 18 more in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, an official familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday.
Hamas seized 251 hostages during the 2023 attack. Less than half of the 50 who remain in Gaza are believed to be alive.
Aid would enter Gaza immediately under the agreement, and the Israeli military would carry out a phased withdrawal from parts of the territory, according to the proposal. Negotiations would immediately start on a permanent ceasefire.
“We sure hope it’s a done deal, but I think it’s all going to be what Hamas is willing to accept,” Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, told Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday. “One thing is clear: the president wants it to be over. The prime minister wants it to be over. The American people, the Israeli people, want it to be over.”
Speaking to journalists while on his way to a rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump said: “I want the people of Gaza to be safe. That’s more important than anything else. They’ve gone through hell.”
Netanyahu visited Israel’s Nir Oz kibbutz on Thursday for the first time since the 2023 Hamas attack. The community was one of the worst-hit in the attack, with nearly one in four residents kidnapped or killed.
“I feel a deep commitment – first of all to ensure the return of all of our hostages, all of them. There are still 20 who are alive and there are also those who are deceased, and we will bring them all back,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli prime minister has been heavily criticised for refusing to take responsibility for the failures that allowed the 2023 attack, during which Hamas-led militants killed 1,200, mostly civilians, and has been repeatedly accused of prioritising his political survival over the fate of the hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,00 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to a count by the territory’s Ministry of Health that is considered reliable by the United Nations and many western governments.
The Israeli military said it “follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm” when striking “terrorist targets”.