The Japan Times - US envoy says Hamas response to ceasefire proposal 'unacceptable'

Hamas did not say it had accepted the proposal from US envoy Steve Witkoff, but a Hamas source told AFP the group's response was positive, while emphasising the need for a permanent ceasefire -- long a sticking point for Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed Witkoff's assessment that the response was "unacceptable", accusing Hamas of clinging "to its rejectionism".

Israel on Friday warned Hamas to either accept the deal and free the hostages held in Gaza "or be annihilated".

In a statement on Saturday, Hamas said it had "submitted its response... to the mediating parties".

"As part of this agreement, 10 living prisoners of the occupation held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the return of 18 bodies, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners," it added.

A source within the group's political bureau said it had offered "a positive response to Witkoff, but with emphasis on guaranteeing a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal" from the Gaza Strip.

Witkoff later said the response was "totally unacceptable and only takes us backward", urging the group to "accept the framework proposal we put forward".

"That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have... substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire," he added in a post on X.

Hamas has long maintained that any deal should lay out a pathway to a permanent end to the war.

But Israel has balked at that prospect, insisting on the need to destroy the group to prevent a repeat of the October 2023 attack that sparked the war.

It recently stepped up its campaign in Gaza in a bid to defeat Hamas.

"While Israel has agreed to the updated Witkoff framework for the release of our hostages, Hamas continues to cling to its rejectionism," Netanyahu's office said in a statement, adding the group's reply was "unacceptable and sets the process back".

"Israel will continue its efforts to bring our hostages home and to defeat Hamas."

A breakthrough in negotiations has been elusive ever since a previous ceasefire fell apart on March 18 with the resumption of Israeli operations.

US President Donald Trump had said on Friday that the parties were "very close to an agreement".

Two sources close to the negotiations said Witkoff's proposal involved a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days.

It would include the release of five living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners during the first week, followed by a second exchange the following week, the sources said.

- 'Hungriest place on Earth' -

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

"After 603 days of war, we wish to remind everyone that war is a means, not an end in itself," the main group representing the hostages' families said in a statement.

Israeli society was "united around one consensus", bringing home all the remaining hostages "even at the cost of ending the war", the Hostages and Missing Families Forum added.

Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned this week that the entire population was at risk of famine.

This week a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency called the territory "the hungriest place on Earth".

Aid is only trickling into Gaza after the partial lifting by Israel of a more than two-month total blockade, and the UN has recently reported looting of its trucks and warehouses.

The World Food Programme has called on Israel "to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster", saying desperation was "contributing to rising insecurity".

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 4,117 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,381, mostly civilians.

Hamas's attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

S.Fujimoto--JT