Hamas proposes five-year truce in Gaza
Hamas is open to an agreement to end the Gaza war that would include the one-time release of all remaining hostages and a five-year cessation of hostilities, an official from the Palestinian group said Saturday.
“Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as a delegation from his group was set to meet mediators in Cairo later in the day.
The group has consistently demanded that a truce agreement must lead to the end of the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a prisoner exchange, and the immediate and sufficient entry of humanitarian aid into the war-battered Palestinian territory.
Israel, for its part, demands the return of all hostages and the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza — the latter being a “red line” for the Palestine freedom fighters.
Israel has destroyed most parts of Gaza, targeting schools, medical facilities, aid workers and civilians since October 7, 2023, when Hamas abducted 251 Israelis and killed 1,218 people in a daring incursion into occupied territories in Israel.
There are 58 hostages still being held in Gaza, including who 34 died.
Israel unilaterally abandoned a truce in March which between January and March 2025, facilitated the release of 33 Israeli hostages.
Israel has since March 2025 killed additional 2,062 Palestinians, raising the number of thse killed, mostly women and children, to over 52,000.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are being tried before the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
