Gaza ceasefire, prisoners swap efforts gain momentum

Efforts to secure a ceasefire and prisoners' release in Gaza have gathered momentum after Hamas made a revised proposal on the terms of a deal and Israel said it would resume stalled negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden on Thursday he would send a delegation to resume negotiations, and an Israeli official said his country's team would be led by the head of the Mossad intelligence agency.

A source in Israel's negotiating team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was now a real chance of achieving agreement.

The Israeli remarks were in sharp contrast to past instances in the nine-month-old war in Gaza, when Israel said conditions attached by Hamas were not acceptable.

A Palestinian official close to the internationally mediated peace efforts said the latest proposal by the Palestinian resistance group could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel.

He said Hamas was no longer demanding as a pre-condition an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire before the signing of an agreement and would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout a first six-week phase.

"Should the sides need more time to seal an agreement on a permanent ceasefire, the two sides should agree there would be no return to the fighting until they do that," the official said.

Türkiye's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was quoted by media as saying he hoped a "final ceasefire" could be secured "in a couple of days", and urged Western countries to put pressure on Israel to accept the terms on offer.

Hezbollah-Hamas talks

Gaza health authorities say more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive launched in response to a Hamas-led attack on Israel last October 7 in which Israel said 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage.

The war has displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and caused a humanitarian crisis.

It has also fuelled tension across the region, triggering exchanges of fire across Israel's northern border with the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group in Lebanon.

Hezbollah said on Friday its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a top Hamas official, Khalil Al-Hayya, had met to discuss the latest developments in Gaza.

A Hezbollah official later said the group would stop firing as soon as any Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect, echoing previous statements by the group, which says its rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel are in support of the Palestinians.

"If there is a Gaza agreement, then from zero hour there will be a ceasefire in Lebanon," the official said.

Biden welcomes Netanyahu’s decision

The White House said Biden had, during their phone call on Thursday, welcomed Netanyahu's decision to resume the stalled talks "in an effort to close out the deal".

Some far-right partners in Netanyahu's governing coalition have indicated they may quit the government if the war ends before Hamas is destroyed. Their departure would probably end Netanyahu's premiership.

Israel's Channel 7 News reported that, at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, far-right coalition partner Itamar Ben Gvir had accused security and defence officials of deciding to resume the talks without consulting him.

Hamas' new proposal responded to a plan made public in late May by Biden that would include the release of about 120 hostages still held in Gaza and a ceasefire.

The plan entails the gradual release of hostages and the pullback of Israeli forces over an initial two phases, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners. A third phase involves Gaza's reconstruction and the return of the remains of dead hostages.

Israel has previously said it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas, which governs Gaza, is eradicated.

An Israeli delegation in Egypt on Thursday discussed details of the possible deal, Egyptian security sources said. They said Israel would respond to the Hamas proposal after discussions with Qatar which, like Egypt, has mediated the peace efforts.