Israel will wait until Wednesday evening for Hamas’s response to the truce proposal

Israel has decided to wait “until Wednesday evening” for a response from the Islamist Hamas movement to a new truce proposal before deciding whether to send a delegation to Egypt, where stakeholders and mediators will gather, an Israeli official said on Tuesday.

“Israel has decided not to send a delegation to Cairo immediately” and “will make a decision when Hamas responds,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “We will wait until Wednesday evening and then make a decision.” After meeting Monday in Cairo with Egypt, Qatar and two mediating countries, the Hamas delegation returned to Doha and is expected to respond “as soon as possible,” a source close to the movement said.

“Very generous” offer

This new truce proposal would be “a very generous offer”, according to David Cameron, the British foreign secretary. It would provide for a 40-day ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners.

“I hope Hamas will accept this deal and, frankly, all the pressure in the world and all eyes should be on them today to get them to accept this deal,” David Cameron said yesterday. He added that the proposed framework would lead to “the stop to the fighting that we all so desperately want to see.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday he was “hopeful” of Hamas’ positive response to the offer, which he called “extremely generous from Israel.”

This new round of talks comes seven months after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on the Jewish state and its retaliatory war in the Palestinian enclave. So far, negotiations on a new truce initiated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have not been successful. Since the beginning of the conflict, fighting stopped only for a week, at the end of November. This brief ceasefire allowed the release of 80 hostages held by Hamas.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X (formerly Twitter) that his army will enter the city of Rafah regardless of whether a truce is reached. Therefore, in parallel with these hopes for a truce, Israel is maintaining its plan for a ground offensive on the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where, according to Israel, Hamas has grouped four battalions.

129 hostages still held in Gaza

The Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians. 250 people were also kidnapped. According to Israel, 129 of them are still in the Gaza Strip, including 34 believed to be dead.

The military operation carried out in response to the Gaza Strip by Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas, killed 34,454 people, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement.