Israeli government minsters planned to meet on Saturday evening to decide on the next steps in the latest American-backed effort to reach a Gaza cease-fire after Hamas said it was ready for negotiations on the proposal.
Late Friday night, Hamas delivered its formal response to the cease-fire framework, which it said was “characterized as being positive,” and added that it was prepared to start new talks about how to put it into effect.
Israeli officials will now have to determine whether to send negotiators to talks with Hamas to flesh out the finer points, with the help of mediators. The two sides refuse to meet face to face, meaning that they are likely to travel to an Arab country where Qatari or Egyptian interlocutors will ferry messages back and forth. No venue has been announced yet.
Under the latest proposal, the sides would observe a 60-day truce during which hostages would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and Israeli troops would pull back to agreed lines, according to people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. Mediators would use the two-month pause to negotiate an agreement on permanently ending the war.
Though both Israel and Hamas appear willing to explore the new plan, they still could stall over the most sensitive sticking points, as has happened before.
Hamas has been seeking guarantees that any truce lead to a lasting end to the conflict, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said he does not want to permanently stop the war before ending Hamas’s rule over Gaza.
According to a Hamas official and another person briefed on the negotiations, Hamas has requested changes to the latest proposal on at least three issues. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues.
One is how aid would enter Gaza during the truce. Another is how far Israeli forces would withdraw from positions in Gaza. And the third is the language around guarantees that the deal would pave a path toward permanently ending the war.
Mediators have repeatedly failed to secure a comprehensive cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
But President Trump says he hopes an initial truce could come together as soon as next week, while conceding that matters are still in flux.
Mr. Netanyahu is set to meet Mr. Trump in Washington on Monday. Just weeks ago, Mr. Trump fulfilled one of Mr. Netanyahu’s longstanding ambitions when the United States joined an Israeli assault on Iran’s nuclear program.
“I’m very optimistic, but look, it changes from day to day,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday, shortly after Hamas replied to the U.S.-backed framework.
Israel’s war with Hamas is the deadliest episode in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, killing more than 57,000 people in Gaza, according to health ministry in the enclave. The ministry’s toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but its lists include the names and ages of thousands of children.
The war was set off by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that the Israeli authorities said killed about 1,200 people and saw about 250 people taken as hostages to Gaza. It was the deadliest single day in Israel’s history.
Israel believes that about 20 hostages are still alive, while about 30 bodies are still being held in Gaza.
The war has gone on for more than 20 months, punctuated by two brief cease-fires during which hostages were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. The previous truce began in mid-January and lasted for about two months before Israel resumed attacks.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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