Israel will adopt the proposal by President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza during the Ramadan and Passover periods, the prime minister’s office said early Sunday, hours after the first phase of the previously agreed ceasefire was set to expire.
On the first day of Witkoff’s proposal, half of the hostages held in Gaza, both alive and dead, will be released, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, adding that the remaining hostages will be released after a permanent ceasefire was agreed.
Witkoff made the proposal to extend the current ceasefire after realizing more time was needed for talks on a permanent ceasefire, Netanyahu’s office said.
Hazem Qassem, a spokesperson for Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, said earlier Saturday the group rejected extending the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, but did not explicitly mention Witkoff’s plan.
Netanyahu’s office said Israel would immediately conduct negotiations on Witkoff’s plan if Hamas agreed to it.
“According to the agreement, Israel can return to fighting after the 42nd day if it feels that the negotiations are ineffective,” Netanyahu’s office also said, accusing Hamas of violating the deal. Both sides have been trading accusations of violating the deal.
Two Palestinian officials familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that Israel refused to enter the second phase of the agreement or start negotiations about it.
Instead, Israel requested an extension of the first phase, conditioned on the handover of a number of hostages and bodies for each week of extension.
Hamas, however, rejected the request and insisted on adhering to the agreement, entering the second phase, and obliging Israel to what was agreed upon.
On Saturday, Hamas’ armed wing posted a video showing Israeli hostages still in its custody in Gaza and stressed that the remaining hostages can only be freed through the phased ceasefire agreement that began on Jan. 19.
The ceasefire agreement halted 15 months of fighting, allowing the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. It was meant to lead to subsequent talks to build on the ceasefire deal.
Talks about the ceasefire have been ongoing, most recently in Cairo, but have not led to an agreement.
The war started when Hamas launched a cross-border terror attack on Israeli communities that killed about 1,200 people and took about 251 hostages, according to Israel.
The Israeli retaliatory offensive has killed at least 48,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in makeshift shelters and dependent on aid trucks.
