Israel weighs Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire proposal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Thursday evening to discuss new Hamas positions on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu's office said, as fighting in the enclave raged.

Before the cabinet meets, Netanyahu will have consultations with his ceasefire negotiations team, the source said. U.S. President Joe Biden will also speak with Netanyahu on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Israel received Hamas' response on Wednesday to a proposal made public at the end of May by Biden that would include the release of about 120 hostages held in Gaza and a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

A Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters that Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, has shown flexibility over some clauses, that would allow a framework agreement to be reached should Israel approve.

Two Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hamas has said any deal must end the nearly nine-month war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel maintains it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas is eradicated.

The plan entails the gradual release of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza and the pullback of Israeli forces over the first two phases, as well as the freeing of Palestinian prisoners. The third phase involves the reconstruction of the war-shattered territory and the return of the remains of deceased hostages.

In Gaza, Palestinians reacted cautiously. "We hope that this is the end of the war, we are exhausted and we can't stand more setbacks and disappointments," said Youssef, a father of two, now displaced in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.

"Every more hour into this war, more people die, and more houses get destroyed, so enough is enough. I say this to my leaders, to Israel and the world," he told Reuters via a chat app.

An Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City and the Civil Emergency Service said five Palestinians were killed and others wounded, while other Israeli strikes on Gaza City's old town on Thursday killed a woman and wounded several others, medics said.

Israeli tanks also shelled several areas on the eastern side of Khan Younis after the army issued evacuation orders on Tuesday, but there has been no movement by the tanks into those areas, residents said.

On Thursday, many Palestinians were still seeking shelter following the evacuation order, which also included the border city of Rafah and which the United Nations said was the largest such edict since 1.1 million people were told to leave the north of the enclave in October.

Khan Younis residents said many families slept on the road because they could not find tents.

Israeli planes and tanks bombed several areas in the northern Gaza areas of Shujaiya, Sabra, Daraj, and Tuffah, killing several Palestinians, including children, and wounding others, health officials said.

The Israeli military claimed that its troops and aircraft killed dozens of Palestinian fighters in those areas and in Rafah, in southern Gaza, which Israel has described as Hamas' last stronghold.

Israel's leaders have said they are winding down the phase of intense fighting against Hamas and would soon move to more targeted operations.

However, after months of conflict Hamas still claims to have munitions to fight back. On Thursday, Hamas' armed wing said it had targeted the Israeli operations command headquarters east of Gaza City with missiles.

The group also claimed that its fighters were able to fire a Soviet-built anti-aircraft missile towards an Apache helicopter in the sky over the Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, without saying if it had been hit.

Israel did not comment on the claims.

The war has created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis and destroyed the majority of the enclave's medical facilities.

On Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said that generators at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, the only main hospital still functioning, would run out of fuel within hours and appealed to international humanitarian organisations for help to secure fresh supplies.

The war in Gaza was sparked when Hamas gunmen led a surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,190 people and saw around 250 hostages taken back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Hamas says the attack was in response to Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory and its continued aggression against the Palestinian people, including attacks Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, and the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Israel's biggest ever offensive has killed over 38,000 people and wounded over 87,000 others, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.