OCCUPIED ALQUDS: Palestinian movement Hamas said Friday it was willing to release all hostages held in Gaza under the framework laid out in US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal.
“The movement announces its approval for the release of all hostages — living and remains — according to the exchange formula included in President Trump’s proposal,” Hamas said in a statement, adding it was ready to enter negotiations “to discuss the details”.
Earlier, it had said that still needs time to study Trump plan.
Trump gives Hamas until Sunday evening to reach Gaza deal
A Hamas official told AFP on Friday that the group still needed time to study US President Donald Trump’s plan to end nearly two years of devastating war in Gaza.
The proposal, backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
That would be followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.
“Hamas is still continuing consultations regarding Trump’s plan… and has informed mediators that the consultations are ongoing and need some time,” the official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
Trump on Tuesday gave Hamas an ultimatum of “three or four days” to accept his plan, which has been welcomed by world powers, including Arab and Muslim nations.
Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement Friday that the “plan has points of concern, and we will announce our position on it soon”.
On the ground on Friday, Gaza’s civil defence agency — a rescue force operating under Hamas authority — reported heavy air bombardment and artillery shelling on Gaza City.
It said Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people across the territory, including eight in Gaza City.
AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory mean AFP cannot independently verify details or casualty figures provided by the Israeli military or the civil defence.
The Israeli military is waging an air and ground offensive on the territory’s largest urban centre, from which hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee.
The UN on Friday reiterated there was no safe place in Gaza and that Israel-designated zones in the south were “places of death”. “The notion of a safe zone in the south is farcical,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva, speaking from the Gaza Strip.
Amnesty International condemned a “catastrophic wave of mass displacement” as Israel intensified its Gaza City offensive.
The rights group said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom had already been displaced multiple times, were being forced into “overcrowded enclaves in the south… that lack access to clean water, food, medical care, shelter and life-sustaining infrastructure”.
As the war nears the two-year mark and the death toll continues to rise, protesters around the world have railed at Israel’s interception of a flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for Gaza.
On Friday, the organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said its last remaining boat had been intercepted and Israel’s foreign ministry said it had deported four Italian participants.
As Hamas mulled Trump’s peace plan this week, a Palestinian source close to the group’s leadership told AFP on Wednesday that the Islamist movement wanted to amend some clauses, including the one on disarmament.
American Dollar Exchange Rate