Israel accepts Trump's Middle East envoy's new Gaza truce proposal: Report

Hamas, meanwhile, said that has received the US envoy's new proposal for ceasefire in Gaza from mediators and is studying it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing local Israeli media.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Reuters)

Palestinian militant group Hamas, meanwhile, said that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it.

Earlier, Witkoff said that he is hopeful about facilitating a deal to end the Israel-Hamas conflict and secure the release of additional hostages taken during the initial attack.

"I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution — a temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution of that conflict," Steve Witkoff said in Washington on Wednesday.

What is Witkoff's ceasefire proposal?

While Witkoff's proposal has not been publicised yet, a Hamas official and an Egyptian official have independently confirmed some of its details to the Associated Press.

According to the officials, who spoke the news agency on condition of anonymity, the proposal calls for a 60-day pause in fighting, guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages, as it previously did in March.

The proposal says that Israeli forces would pull back to the positions they held during the first ceasefire. On the other hand, Hamas would release 10 living hostages and a number of bodies during the 60-day pause in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 100 serving long sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.

Israel has pledged to take control of Gaza and continue its efforts until Hamas is either destroyed, disarmed, or exiled, as well as until the militant group returns the remaining 58 hostages captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the conflict.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the 2023 attack. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, according to the Associated Press.