Egypt, Qatar preparing new proposal for temporary Gaza ceasefire

Egypt and Qatar are preparing to present a new proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza despite Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting a phased deal, according to Israeli media.

The Palestinian armed group has in recent days expressed willingness to make concessions, leading the two countries to work on a proposal for a two-month truce along the lines of the framework put forward by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in May, Israeli diplomatic sources told Haaretz.

This comes a day after the Israeli prime minister said that – despite insisting on a temporary ceasefire for months - he is now only interested in a single agreement that ends the war and meets all his conditions.

To end the war, Netanyahu is demanding the release of all the captives, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the formation of an administration with no ties to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. He also wants Israeli forces to continue to control the Gaza perimeter following the war.

One senior official close to Netanyahu told the newspaper that it is unlikely Hamas will agree to such conditions.

The initiative comes after a Hamas delegation led by its political chief Khalil al-Hayya visited Egypt to discuss ceasefire efforts.

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

Egypt's foreign minister said this week that it was working with Qatar and the US to revive the Witkoff framework that would see a 60-day ceasefire, a limited exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, and a surge of aid into Gaza.

The renewed diplomatic efforts come a few weeks after Israel and the US walked away from ceasefire talks, claiming that Hamas was obstructing an agreement.

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 agrees to allow the Palestinians to establish an independent state.

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

The latest talks collapsed over Israel's presence in Gaza and the future of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a 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.

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.