Egypt, Qatar hand Gaza ceasefire proposal to Hamas, ahead of new assault threat

Egypt and Qatar have handed Hamas a new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, ahead of a planned assault on Gaza City by Israeli forces that could displace tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Hamas has in recent days reportedly expressed its willingness to make concessions, leading the two mediators to work on a new plan for a 60-day truce based on the framework put forward by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in May.

Sources told Saudi media that the two countries passed the proposal to Hamas in the presence of leaders of other Palestinian factions, who called on the armed group to respond in the coming hours.

Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani will travel to Egypt on Monday to discuss the situation, according to Al Jazeera.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa is among the Palestinian officials involved in the discussions in Cairo. He is expected to hold a joint press conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty at the Rafah border crossing on Monday.

Hamas has not publicly commented on the reports.

It comes days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to rule out a multi-phase deal and insisted that Israel will only stop fighting if Hamas meets all its conditions, with preparations ongoing for a major assault on Gaza City.

"Israel will agree to a deal on condition that all the hostages are released in one go, and in accordance with our conditions for ending the war that include the disarming of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli control of the Gaza perimeter, and the installation of non-Hamas and non-Palestinian Authority governance that will live in peace with Israel," his office said in a statement on Saturday.

The new peace initiative by Egypt and Qatar comes days after a Hamas delegation visited Cairo.

The Palestinian armed group reportedly told Egyptian officials that it is ready to negotiate a temporary ceasefire and is open to an agreement that permanently ends the war.

Egypt's foreign minister said that he is working with Qatar and the US to revive the Witkoff framework, which would see a two-month ceasefire, a limited exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, and a surge of aid into Gaza.

The renewed diplomatic efforts come several weeks after Israel and the US walked away from more than two weeks of talks in Doha, claiming that Hamas was obstructing a deal.

Israel has refused to permanently end the war and has rejected Hamas's offer to release all remaining captives and cede control of the territory in return for a long-term truce.

It insists that the group must disarm and leave Gaza, something Hamas refuses to do until Israel acknowledges Palestinian statehood.

Hamas has in recent months walked back its demand to permanently end the war, agreeing to accept a 60-day truce in return for a limited captive-release deal.

The latest round of negotiations collapsed over Israel's presence in Gaza and the future of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel- and US-backed NGO that took control of most of the aid distribution in the war-torn territory at the end of May.

Hamas has pressed for Israeli troops to withdraw from key areas of Gaza during the ceasefire and wants the GHF shut down and the restoration of the UN-coordinated humanitarian system, which comes amid a growing number of Palestinians dying from starvation, while hundreds have been shot dead at aid points

Israel has insisted it will maintain a presence in swathes of the territory and refuses to wind down the GHF, whose operations have led to the deaths of more than 1,900 aid seekers at the hands of the Israeli army.