CAIRO – Hamas said on April 27 that it had received Israel’s official response to its latest ceasefire proposal and will study it before submitting its reply, the militant group’s deputy Gaza chief said in a statement.

“Hamas has received on April 27 the official response of the Zionist occupation to the proposal presented to the Egyptian and the Qatari mediators on April 13,” senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who is currently based in Qatar, said in a statement published by the group.

After more than six months of war with Israel in Gaza, the negotiations remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demand that any agreement must end the war.

An Egyptian delegation visited Israel for discussion with Israeli officials on April 26, looking for a way to restart talks to end the conflict and return the remaining hostages taken when Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns on Oct 7, an official briefed on the meetings said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 hostages would be released by Hamas, instead of the 40 previously under discussion.

On April 25, the US and 17 other countries appealed to Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis.

Hamas has vowed not to relent to international pressure, but in a statement it issued on April 26, it said it was “open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of our people”. 

But it stuck to its key demands that Israel has rejected, and criticised the joint statement issued by the US and others for not calling for a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on April 26 that he saw fresh momentum in talks to end the war and return the remaining hostages.

Citing two Israeli officials, Axios reported that Israel told the Egyptian mediators on the same day that it was ready to give hostage negotiations “one last chance” to reach a deal with Hamas before moving forward with an invasion of Rafah, the last refuge for around a million Palestinians who fled Israeli forces farther north in Gaza earlier in the war.

Meanwhile, in Rafah, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli air strike on a house killed at least five people and wounded others.

Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli towns on Oct 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages.

Israel has sworn to annihilate Hamas in an onslaught that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. REUTERS