Israel declared war on Hamas and unleashed a pulverising air and ground offensive in Gaza in response to the militants’ October 7 attack on southern Israel when they killed about 1200 people and took another 250 hostage.

Loading

More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for a possible offensive in the city.

On Saturday, Hamas said it had received Israel’s official response to its latest ceasefire proposal and would study it before submitting its reply, the group’s deputy Gaza chief said in a statement.

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

An Egyptian delegation visited Israel for discussion with Israeli officials on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the conflict and return remaining hostages, an official briefed on the meetings said.

Loading

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 discussed.

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

The US and 17 other countries have 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 Friday it was “open to any ideas or proposals that take into account the needs and rights of our people”.

However, 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 he saw fresh momentum in the talks to end the war and return the remaining hostages.

Citing two Israeli officials, Axios reported that Israel told the Egyptian mediators on Friday 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.

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