Hamas accepts planned 60-day truce deal
- Last updated: August 19, 2025 | 10:30
Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal with Israel that includes the release of half the hostages held in Gaza and Israel’s release of some Palestinian prisoners, an Egyptian official source said on Monday.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim confirmed the group’s approval of the proposal, writing on Facebook: “The movement has handed over its approval to the new proposal presented by the mediators.”
Israeli media quoted Israeli sources as saying the Hamas response had been received.
There was no official response from Israel.
Meanwhile, the UAE continued its humanitarian support for the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, the UAE carried out the 74th airdrop of aid under operation “Birds of Goodness,” part of “Chivalrous Knight 3,” in cooperation with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and with the participation of Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Indonesia.
The latest shipment included essential food supplies, prepared with the support of the UAE charitable organisations, to help meet the urgent needs of Gaza’s population amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
The Egyptian official source stated that the agreement included a suspension of Israeli military operations for 60 days and outlined a framework for a comprehensive deal to end the nearly two-year conflict.
A source familiar with the negotiations said the proposal closely mirrored an earlier plan put forward by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel had accepted.
The mediators met Hamas representatives in Cairo on Sunday, and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister, joined the discussions on Monday and met both Egyptian President Al Sisi and Hamas representatives, said an official briefed on the meetings.
The UN General Assembly must be empowered to urgently intervene in Gaza and send a protective military force to help its devastated population, the non-government Gaza Tribunal project said Monday.
The body, which groups international academics, rights advocates and legal experts, was set up in London in 2024 aiming to mobilise public opinion and pressure governments “to end the genocide” in Gaza.
Addressing a news conferences in Istanbul, its leader Richard Falk, a former UN rapporteur for Palestinian rights, said the tribunal called on governments to act before it was “too late”.
In an apparent show of force late on Monday, Israeli tanks advanced into the Sabra neighbourhood in the heart of Gaza City, according to witnesses who counted the presence of at least nine tanks and bulldozers.
Israel approved the plan to take control of Gaza City earlier this month, but officials had said it could take weeks to start, leaving the door open for a ceasefire, even though Netanyahu had said it would get under way “fairly quickly” and end the war with Hamas’ defeat.
Five more Palestinians have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday, raising the number of people who died of those causes to 263, including 112 children, since the war started
Separately, thousands of Palestinians fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south in the shattered territory.
Ahmed Mheisen, Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, said 995 families had departed the area in recent days for the south.
“I am heading south because I need to ease my mental state,” Mousa Obaid, a Gaza City resident, told reporters.
“I do not want to keep moving left and right endlessly. There is no life left, and as you can see, living conditions are hard, prices are high, and we have been without work for over a year and a half.”
In Gaza City, many Palestinians have also been calling for protests to demand an end to a war that has demolished much of the territory and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive.
Agencies