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Mediators are awaiting Israel’s response after Hamas accepted a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap proposal, Qatar said on Tuesday, Anadolu reports.
In a news briefing in Doha, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari called Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal “very positive” and “almost identical” to what Israel agreed to.
The current proposal is “the best that can be offered at present, and the best possible option to stop the bloodshed of the Palestinian people,” he added.
“We are still waiting for the Israeli response after Hamas accepted the plan,” the spokesman said.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, for his part, said “significant progress” has been made on reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“The ball is now in Israel’s court,” Abdelatty said in comments cited by a Foreign Ministry statement.
According to the ministry, the top diplomat held “intensive contacts” with several foreign officials, including Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a proposal by Egyptian and Qatari mediators for a Gaza ceasefire, without providing details about the proposal’s content.
US continues to discuss ceasefire proposal Hamas accepted: White House
Israeli public broadcaster KAN, citing unnamed sources, said the new Egyptian-Qatari proposal closely resembles US envoy Steve Witkoff’s original plan, which called for the release of 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and negotiations to end the war.
According to Egyptian media, the proposal calls for Israeli forces to reposition near the border to facilitate humanitarian aid entering Gaza and a temporary halt to military operations for two months to facilitate a prisoner-hostage exchange.
According to Israeli estimates, around 50 captives remain in Gaza, including 20 believed to be alive, while Israel is holding more than 10,800 Palestinians in its prisons under dire conditions, with rights groups reporting deaths due to torture, hunger and medical neglect.
Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Israeli forces killed an Al Jazeera news team near al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday evening. The team’s tent was struck by Israeli warplanes, resulting in the deaths of five journalists and their driver.
The journalists killed included correspondents Anas Al Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their driver Mohammed Noufal.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) acknowledged the strike and claimed Anas Al Sharif was a Hamas cell leader responsible for rocket attacks. Human rights organisations and press freedom groups—such as the United Nations and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)—denounced the claim as unsubstantiated. Al Jazeera rejected the allegations, calling the attack an attempt to silence its reporting.
Al Jazeera described the strike as “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom” ahead of a possible occupation of Gaza. The network and press freedom advocates warned that targeting media workers threatens press safety in conflict zones and diminishes independent coverage.
READ: Around 260 journalists denounce Israeli restrictions ‘silencing independent observation’
Anas Al Sharif, aged 28, was especially known for his courageous frontline reporting from northern Gaza. He was seen as a “voice” for the hungry and bereaved in the Gaza Strip, especially with the intensification of the Israeli siege on the Strip.
Journalists Al-Sharif and Qureiqa were keen to convey the voice of civilians and the hungry in the Gaza Strip to the world and expose the crimes of the occupation.
Al-Sharif had been subjected to continuous and repeated incitement from Israeli officials and electronic media.
Days before his death, he warned of intense bombardments and emphasised the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
Al Jazeera called on the international community and all relevant organisations to “take decisive measures to halt this ongoing genocide and end the deliberate targeting of journalists”.
Since the conflict began on 7 October 2023, more than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera and Gaza authorities.
READ: 8 European countries ‘strongly condemn’ Israeli plans to occupy Gaza
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