Palestinian resistance group Hamas has reportedly agreed to a proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian official close to the group told Reuters.
The new proposal, which sees the release of ten hostages and 70 days of truce, was received by Hamas through mediators.
Earlier, Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera confirmed that representatives of Hamas and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have reached a draft ceasefire deal in Qatar’s capital Doha.
Five Israeli captives will be released in the beginning of the agreement, with the other five released on the 60th day.
Meanwhile, Sweden’s foreign ministry plans to summon Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm over the humanitarian aid situation in Gaza, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said.
The UN’s health agancy has said that stocks of medical equipment in Gaza are running low and that nearly half of basic medicines such as painkillers are out of stock, Al Jazeera reports.
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“We are at stock zero of close to 64 percent of medical equipment and stock zero of 42 per cent of essential medicines and vaccines,” Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told reporters in Geneva.
In remarks last week, Balkhy warned that health conditions in Gaza had reached “crisis levels” and that medical facilities were “barely functional”.
