Hamas 'agrees to US proposal for Gaza ceasefire' after Israeli strikes kill at least 54 in Gaza
Hamas has reportedly agreed a US proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, which would see a partial Israeli withdrawal and the release of ten living hostages.
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Representatives of the Palestinian militant group have reportedly reached a deal with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, after negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
One Israeli official has reportedly dismissed the proposal, but there has been no official comment from Israel.
The deal reportedly features a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, and would see Hamas release 10 living hostages.
Bodies of several more people will be released by Hamas, in return for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners.
The draft agreement, reportedly confirmed to Al Jazeera, would see the exchanges take place in two stages.
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Five Israeli hostages will be released in the first stage, when the agreement first comes into effect.
The five other living captives will be released to Israel on the 60th day of the agreement.
Hamas agreed to the proposal put forward by Witkoff on Monday, according to several reports.
Witkoff has reportedly sent the draft to the Israeli government, and is waiting for a response.
But one Israeli official has dismissed what they called “the latest ceasefire proposal from Hamas," speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The deal would also include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza - something the embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out.
The deal also reportedly guarantees the unconditional entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, which has been under a total blockade for almost three months.
Israel said last week that it would allow aid in Gaza following warnings of mass starvation and famine, including one UN official claiming 14,000 children could die in the space of 24 hours if support wasn’t delivered.
But of the 300 aid trucks Israel said it allowed in, only about 100 were able to reach the civilian population of Gaza, according to reports on the ground. Prior to the war, Gaza would receive between 500 and 600 trucks of aid per day.
Speaking on Friday, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said the aid allowed into Gaza “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required."
It comes after Donald Trump demanded a ceasefire in the region be agreed quickly on Sunday.
Some reports claim the US President will announce a peace plan in the “coming days.”
“We want to see if we can stop it,” Trump said on Sunday.
“And we've talked to Israel, we want to see if we can stop this whole situation as quickly as possible,' the US President told reporters as he boarded Air Force One.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, and particularly since Donald Trump became president again, Hamas has repeatedly accepted ceasefire drafts negotiated by US envoy Witkoff.
But almost all of these proposals have been rejected by Israel, which has come under increasing international pressure to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Gaza and agree to end the war.
On Monday morning, officials in Gaza reported two separate overnight attacks by Israel, which killed at least 54 people.
One of the air strikes targeted a school converted into a shelter for displaced families. Many of the victims were seriously burned after a fire ripped through two classrooms.
Israel claims the school was "a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre," but provided no evidence.
Israel’s assault on Gaza, launched following the October 7 attack by Hamas, has killed at least 53,000 people, the vast majority women and children.
The October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas killed 1,200 people, with 251 people abducted.