Israel has rejected a statement from Hamas saying the armed group is ready for a “comprehensive deal” to end the Gaza war and free all its hostages.
“This is more spin by Hamas that has nothing new,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
It insisted the war would end only once the 48 hostages – 20 of whom are believed to be alive – were released, Hamas was disarmed, Gaza was demilitarised, Israel had security control, and an “alternative civilian administration” was established.
Hamas reiterated its call for a deal that would see hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, Israeli forces withdraw, border crossings reopened, and the start of reconstruction.
The group also said it agreed to the formation of an administration run by independent technocrats to govern post-war Gaza.
It issued the statement on Tuesday evening, hours after US President Donald Trump wrote on social media: “Tell Hamas to IMMEDIATELY give back all 20 Hostages (Not 2 or 5 or 7!), and things will change rapidly. IT WILL END!”
Last month, Hamas said it had accepted a plan from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt that would see 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages released during a 60-day truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails.
Israel has yet to formally respond to the proposal – a decision that Egypt said on Tuesday reflected “a complete absence of Israeli will for de-escalation and achieving calm and peace”.
The proposal was said by Qatar to be “almost identical” to an earlier one from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel accepted but Hamas rejected, partly because it did not include a guarantee that the temporary ceasefire would lead to a permanent one.
Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to conquer all of Gaza after indirect negotiations with Hamas on Witkoff’s proposal broke down in July.
The prime minister said the military’s objectives were to defeat Hamas and free its hostages after 22 months of war triggered by the group’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Hamas now had to choose between accepting Israel’s terms or seeing Gaza “become the equivalent of Rafah and Beit Hanoun”, which have been largely flattened by Israeli bombardment and demolitions. The Israeli military was “preparing in full force”, he warned.
The hostages’ families are concerned that they will be endangered by the looming offensive to capture and occupy Gaza City, and want the government to instead immediately agree a deal that would secure their release by ending the war.
“The manoeuvring in Gaza City poses a real threat to the hostages, both the living and the deceased who could disappear forever,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum warned.
“Calls for a comprehensive agreement are coming from both sides – we demand: sit down at the negotiating table now and don’t get up until a deal is signed.”
In recent days, the Israeli military has intensified air and ground assaults on the outskirts of Gaza City, which it has said is a Hamas stronghold and declared a “dangerous combat zone”.
Hospitals said at least 23 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes on the city on Thursday, and that 15 others were killed elsewhere in the territory.
Medics said two people were killed in one strike on a tent at a camp for displaced families in western Gaza City, close to al-Shifa hospital.
At the scene, Somaya Mikdad held up a pack of nappies that she said belonged to one of the victims – a pregnant woman.
“The woman was getting ready for the baby… It was her [due] month,” she told Reuters news agency. “What is their fault? Is it a war against Hamas or a war against the people?”
The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency meanwhile said that eight people were killed in a strike that hit four homes in the north-eastern Tuffah neighbourhood.
The UN’s humanitarian office has warned that a further intensification of the Israeli offensive will “push civilians into an even deeper catastrophe” in Gaza City, which is home to one million people and where a famine has been declared.
According to the UN, aid groups say the hostilities are having “horrific humanitarian consequences” for people living in displacement sites in “deplorable and overcrowded” conditions, with debris and waste accumulating, widespread rodent and insect infestations, and inadequate water supplies.
Since 14 August, more than 82,000 people have been newly displaced, many of whom have previously fled neighbouring North Gaza governorate, the UN says. Most have moved towards the coast and only a third have left for the south, as the Israeli military has instructed.
Many families say they are unable to move due to high costs and a lack of safe space.
Others are unwilling to leave after being displaced repeatedly during the conflict.
“This time, I am not leaving my house. I want to die here. It doesn’t matter if we move out or stay. Tens of thousands of those who left their homes were killed by Israel too, so why bother?” said Umm Nader, a mother of five from Gaza City.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 64,231 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The ministry also says 370 people, have so far died during the war as a result of malnutrition and starvation, including three over the past 24 hours.
