Hamas official says it will reject new US Gaza ceasefire plan backed by Israel

2 days ago Share Save Rushdi Abualouf Gaza correspondent Reporting from Cairo David Gritten BBC News Reporting from London Share Save

Reuters Israel resumed its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza in mid-March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire

A senior Hamas official has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group will reject the latest US proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. The White House said on Thursday that Israel had “signed off” on US envoy Steve Witkoff’s plan and that it was waiting for a formal response from Hamas. Israeli media cited Israeli officials as saying it would see Hamas hand over 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in two phases in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The Hamas official said the proposal did not satisfy core demands, including an end to the war, and that it would respond in due course.

The Israeli government has not commented, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told hostages’ families on Thursday that he accepted Witkoff’s plan. Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza and resumed its military offensive against Hamas on 18 March, collapsing a two-month ceasefire brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt. It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release the 58 hostages it is still holding, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. On 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops “take control of all areas” of Gaza. The next day, he said Israel would also ease the blockade and allow a “basic” amount of food into Gaza to prevent a famine. Almost 4,000 people have been killed in Gaza over the past 10 weeks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The UN says another 600,000 people have been displaced again by Israeli ground operations and evacuation orders, and a report by the UN-backed IPC warns that about 500,000 people face catastrophic levels of hunger in the coming months.

At a news conference in Washington DC on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether she could confirm a report by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that Israel and Hamas had agreed a new ceasefire deal. “I can confirm that Special Envoy Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas,” she said. “I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home,” she added. However, a senior Hamas official later said the deal contradicted previous discussions between the group’s negotiators and Witkoff. The official told the BBC that the offer did not include guarantees the temporary truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, nor a return to the humanitarian protocol that allowed hundreds of trucks of aid into Gaza daily during the last ceasefire. Nevertheless, he said Hamas remained in contact with the mediators and would submit its written response in due course.

‘World has responsibility to get aid into Gaza’, UN official tells BBC

A profile of former Hamas military leader Mohammed Sinwar who was killed in an IDF strike in Gaza. (photo credit: Canva, IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)

Mohammed Sinwar, head of the Hamas military wing, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on May 13 in Khan Yunis, the IDF confirmed on Saturday.

The operation, conducted jointly with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), targeted senior Hamas figures operating in an underground command and control center.

The IDF said the airstrike was carried out using extensive intelligence measures aimed at avoiding civilian harm. The targeted command center was located beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, but hospital operations were not disrupted.

Hamas’s de facto leader in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar, was killed during a recent airstrike, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Netanyahu previously said last week that it was probable the leader had been killed by significant airstrikes Israel carried out on the European Hospital in Khan Younis on May 13. At the time of the strike, Israeli sources told CNN that it had targeted Sinwar, the brother of the previous leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar.

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Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in October 2024 by an airstrike on Gaza, is regarded as the lead orchestrator of the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, in which over 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage. The Prime Minister confirmed Mohammed Sinwar’s death during the airstrikes on Khan Younis during a May 28 speech in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, marking 600 days since the October 7 attacks and the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas has not yet commented on Netanyahu’s claim. Mohammed Sinwar is the latest of a number of Hamas chiefs and top figures to be killed by Israel since the start of the war. Last August, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that they had killed Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military leader, in a strike the previous month. The strike on July 14, 2024, targeted Deif, hitting a displacement camp. It reportedly killed 90 people, including children.

Days before confirming Deif’s death, Hamas announced the death of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s then-political chief. Haniyeh was killed in a precise strike on his residence in Tehran, Iran. After the airstrike on the European Hospital in Khan Younis on May 13, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the hospital was no longer accessible. Twenty-eight people were reportedly killed in the airstrike, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency. Israeli strikes on medical facilities across Gaza have been frequent, with the IDF claiming that these areas are used by Hamas to conduct their operations. The IDF said in a statement on X that the strike in Khan Younis “destroyed an underground terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas terrorist organization,” under the European Hospital. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said on May 28 that these strikes on medical facilities are part of a “systematic dismantling of Gaza’s already fragile health system,” in a press statement.

The statement detailed that five hospitals have been directly hit in the last two weeks, leaving four non-functional. The organization added that as of May 23, more than 90% of health services across Gaza have become either completely non-functional or partially functional.

The IDF confirmed Saturday that it killed Mohammed Sinwar, head of Hamas’ military wing and one of the architects of the October 7 terrorist attack on southern Israel, and Rafah Brigade commander Muhammad Shabana in a targeted airstrike earlier this month on an underground tunnel system located under the European Hospital in Khan Younis.

This marks the first formal IDF confirmation of the strike, which had previously been acknowledged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz .

Footage of underground tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza struck by IDF ( Video: IDF )

Israeli assassination of Hamas military chief Mohammed Sinwar

According to the military, the May 13 airstrike targeted a senior Hamas command tunnel beneath the hospital. The operation also eliminated the commander of Hamas’ South Khan Younis Battalion. “The IDF, in cooperation with the Shin Bet, conducted a targeted operation against Hamas terrorists who were present in a command and control compound established inside underground infrastructure beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis,” the IDF said in a statement.

The operation was carried out by Southern Command and the Israeli Air Force, based on precise intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate and Shin Bet. The decision to proceed was made in real-time by the IDF chief of staff and Shin Bet director, the army said.

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Following the announcement, Defense Minister Katz issued a warning to other senior Hamas figures, including Gaza-based Izz ad-Din al-Haddad and overseas official Khalil al-Hayya: “You are next.”

4 View gallery Mohammed Sinwar ( Photo: IDF )

“It’s now official: Mohammed Sinwar, the arch-murderer , was eliminated along with Shabana and others hiding beneath the European Hospital. He was sent to join his brother at the gates of hell,” Katz said, referring to Sinwar’s brother, Yahya Sinwar, the former leader of the terrorist group who was killed in a clash with Israeli forces last October .

“Israel’s long arm will reach every perpetrator of the October 7 atrocities—wherever they are—until they are eliminated. Al-Haddad, al-Hayya and all their accomplices will not escape justice.”

Prior to the strike, Israeli intelligence had only medium confidence that Sinwar was inside the tunnel. The decision to carry out the attack was based on the tunnel’s strategic value, the absence of hostages in the area and the limited expected harm to civilians. As time passed without signs of Sinwar’s continued presence, confidence grew that he had indeed been killed . Security officials expressed hope that the death of Sinwar, a hardliner, might open the door to renewed hostage negotiations.

4 View gallery Aerial photograph with a preliminary analysis of the strike results ( Photo: IDF )

Days after the strike, Katz told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, “There is no official confirmation yet, but all indications suggest Mohammed Sinwar was eliminated.” His remarks followed a report by Saudi outlet Al Hadath, which cited sources claiming Sinwar’s body had been found in the tunnel , confirming his death.

Prime Minister Netanyahu also confirmed the killing in a recent Knesset address, saying, “So much for ‘zero achievements.’” He cited military gains in Gaza and Lebanon, the return of 90 percent of residents to border communities and the nearing of a “dramatic shift” in Israel’s campaign to dismantle Hamas. “We are stripping them of control over humanitarian aid, and this is just the beginning,” he said.

A ruthless sadist

Sinwar, 50, had risen to become one of the most powerful figures in Hamas’ military hierarchy following the targeted killings of senior commanders Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa .

A December 2023 video released from a four-kilometer-long “mega-tunnel” in Gaza showed his image publicly for the first time.

4 View gallery Senior Hamas leader eliminated by Israel since start of war ( Photo: IDF )

Born in Khan Younis, Sinwar was the youngest of the Sinwar brothers and among the earliest members of Hamas. He participated in terror activities during the First Intifada and was imprisoned for nine months in Israel. He later spent three years in a Palestinian Authority prison before escaping in 2000. According to sources in Gaza, Sinwar was deeply influenced by the ideology of Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi.

A longtime senior operative in Hamas’ military wing, Sinwar played a central role in planning and executing the October 7 massacre and served as head of operations.

After the death of Mohammed Deif, he became a key strategist and decision-maker for Hamas’ military arm. He previously served as Khan Younis Brigade commander and head of the operations division, and was involved in the planning and detention of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped from the Gaza border perimeter in 2006.

4 View gallery Senior Hamas leader eliminated by Israel since start of war ( Photo: IDF )

Israel made multiple attempts on his life over the years. His home was targeted during both Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014, though he survived.

At the height of the 2014 conflagration, unconfirmed reports and images circulated claiming he had been killed, including a photo showing him supposedly dead. He largely disappeared from public view until May 2022, when reports noted he did not attend his father’s funeral, prompting Arab media to dub him “the one who returned from the dead.”

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel’s strike on Sinwar occurred during a high-level meeting of senior Hamas operatives. According to the report, which cited both Hamas and Arab sources, the strike killed several high-value targets, leaving a leadership vacuum . Sinwar was said to have been “quietly buried” days later alongside other commanders, including Shabana.

The Hamas leadership had gathered in a tunnel in Khan Younis to discuss strategic issues, including a ceasefire proposal. The meeting, which violated Hamas’ own wartime security protocols, enabled Israel to strike multiple high-level targets simultaneously.