Israel is demanding that Hamas release all hostages it is holding, government spokesman David Mencer told the BBC after the Palestinian group agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian truce proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of half of the hostages.
Qatari diplomats said the proposal was “almost identical” to a US proposal that Israel had previously accepted.
In June, US special representative Steve Witkoff presented a version of the agreement that would have provided for a 60-day truce. On the first and seventh days, Hamas was to release 10 live hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead. In return, Israel pledged to release 125 Palestinians sentenced to life imprisonment, 1,111 people arrested in the Gaza Strip, and hand over the bodies of 180 Palestinians who died.
At the time, Israel agreed to the offer, but Hamas rejected it, arguing that the agreement did not guarantee the transformation of a temporary truce into a permanent peace.
Israel has not officially rejected the new offer, but according to Mencer, “partial deals” are no longer of interest to the government.
“Now everything has changed. The prime minister has presented a plan for the future of Gaza,” Mencer noted.
