Discussions on US ceasefire proposal are ‘ongoing’, says White House – Middle East crisis live | Israel
White House says discussions on US ceasefire proposal are ‘ongoing’
The White House said discussions on US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza are “ongoing”.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a briefing with reporters, said Witkoff and Donald Trump submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that had been “backed and supported” by Israel.
“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.
Key events
Hamas says Israel-backed US plan ‘does not meet our people’s demands’ but is still studying it
A Hamas official said the group is studying the latest Israeli-backed US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel’s response “in essence means the continuation of killing and famine,” Bassem Naim, a Hamas political bureau member, told multiple outlets on Thursday.
The proposal “does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine,” he said, adding:
Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility.
The White House said Thursday that Israel had accepted Donald Trump’s proposal for a Gaza ceasefire.
In a statement on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said:
“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.”
“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… I can confirm that special envoy [Steve] 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.”
Earlier, Hamas said that it was examining a new deal proposed by Witkoff.
Speaking to reporters, state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said:
“We are unaware of Hamas accepting it, but we do believe that it has some significant promise… So there is some optimism – some important optimism.”
The Israeli army said that it has intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Israeli army said:
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted.”
The missile interception comes two days after Israeli forces said it intercepted a missile and another projectile fire from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Patrick Wintour
The former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has urged the UK to advise its citizens against travelling to Egypt, in response to Cairo’s refusal to release dual British Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah.
A UN panel found on Wednesday that Fattah had been held arbitrarily in jail since 2019, but Egypt was refusing to give the UK consular access – let alone release him. His mother has been refusing food in protest at his detention.
Casson, ambassador to Egypt from 2014 to 2018, said:
Egypt pretends to be a friend of the UK and is dependent on British visitors to keep its economy afloat. We have to demonstrate that that is not compatible with abusing our citizens and blocking our embassy.
He added that the Foreign Office had worked its way through “the normal diplomatic playbook” to secure his release, but this “only revealed Egypt fobbing us off and trying to push us around”.
Israeli forces carrying out ‘forced evacuation’ of northern Gaza hospital – reports
We reported earlier that Israel ordered the evacuation of the Al-Awda hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.
According to a statement from the hospital:
Israeli occupation forces are currently carrying out a forced evacuation of patients and medical staff from inside Al-Awda Hospital in Tel al-Zaatar – the only hospital that was still operating in the northern Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Thursday, the hospital said there were “still 97 people inside the hospital, including 13 patients and injured individuals, and 84 medical staff members,” Agence-France-Presse reported.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said efforts were “ongoing to evacuate patients and medical staff” from the hospital. It said:
The facility is currently overwhelmed with injuries and critically low on supplies … Ongoing hostilities over the past two weeks have damaged the hospital, disrupted access, and created panic, deterring people from seeking care.
Israel and Hamas ‘not even close to reaching an understanding’ over deal – report
Here’s more on the new ceasefire proposal presented by the US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, which the White House said has been “backed and supported” by Israel.
A Palestinian official familiar with the mediation efforts told Reuters:
Discussions are continuing with the mediators and Hamas hasn’t handed its response yet.
A separate report from Haaretz cites a foreign source as saying that the two parties are “not even close to reaching an understanding, as of now.”
The White House’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, did not comment on reports that Donald Trump is poised to make an announcement on the deal. She told reporters:
If there is an announcement to be made, it will come from the White House – the president, myself, or special envoy Witkoff.
Italy has offered to treat a Palestinian child who survived an Israeli strike in Gaza in which nine of his siblings were killed.
Adam Al-Najjar,11, is in serious condition in Nasser hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, after the strike last week.
His mother, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, is a paediatric specialist at al-Tahrir hospital within the Nasser medical complex who was treating victims of ongoing Israeli attacks when she received the bodies of nine of her children killed by a strike in Khan Younis. The eldest of her children was 12.
Graeme Groom, a British surgeon working in the hospital, told the Guardian he had operated on her surviving son, Adam. “It is unimaginable,” he said.
The father [al-Najjar’s husband] is a physician here at Nasser hospital. We’ve asked about him and he has no political or military connections … it is a particularly sad day.
The child’s uncle, Ali Al-Najjar, told Italy’s la Repubblica newspaper that he has burns on his body, head injuries, a broken left hand and is not able to walk, and that Nasser hospital is ill-equipped to treat him. He said:
He needs to be taken away immediately, to a real hospital, outside of the Gaza Strip. I beg the Italian government to do something, take him, Italians save him.
A statement from the Italian foreign ministry on Thursday, reported by Reuters, reads:
The Italian government has expressed its willingness to transfer the seriously injured boy to Italy.
White House says discussions on US ceasefire proposal are ‘ongoing’
The White House said discussions on US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza are “ongoing”.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a briefing with reporters, said Witkoff and Donald Trump submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that had been “backed and supported” by Israel.
“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.
We reported earlier that an Israeli airstrike on a house in central Gaza killed 22 people, according to hospital officials.
Among those killed were nine women and children, AP reported, citing hospital records.
The airstrike hit a family home in Bureij, an urban refugee camp in central Gaza, hospital officials said.
Strikes in northern Gaza late Wednesday and early Thursday hit a house, killing eight people, including two women and three children, and a car in Gaza City, killing four, local hospitals said.
Donald Trump is expected to announce details of a Gaza ceasefire agreement within hours, Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya is reporting, citing sources.
Here’s more on the latest ceasefire and hostage release deal, presented by Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, that Israel has reportedly accepted and Hamas is currently studying.
The new proposal does not delineate where Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would have to redeploy once it comes into effect, the Times of Israel is reporting, citing a senior Israeli official.
Hamas has demanded that Israeli forces eventually be completely withdrawn from the Gaza Strip.
According to the official, the deal does not dictate “the manner in which aid would be distributed within the framework of a ceasefire.”
The outlet cites another Israeli official saying that the UN would resume providing aid during a ceasefire, instead of the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Axios has meanwhile reported that Hamas is not happy with Witkoff’s proposal and thinks it has shifted in Israel’s favour.
The new proposal does not include a clear US guarantee that a temporary ceasefire will lead to a permanent ceasefire, a source told the outlet.
Hospital officials say an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza killed 22 people, including nine women and children.
This is according to a report from AP and we will bring you more as we get it.
The day so far
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Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US president Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Palestinian militant group Hamas said earlier that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it.
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Hamas says it has received US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza from mediators. The statement from the militant group says the proposal is now being studied.
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Israel has authorised 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, its defence minister has said.
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Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel’s decision a “dangerous escalation”, accusing the government of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability”.
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An Israeli strike hit the south of Lebanon, killing one man on Thursday. Israel says its attack, which violated a ceasefire agreement, struck a member of the Hezbollah militant group. Lebanon’s health ministry says an “Israeli enemy strike” hit a forested area in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, killing one man.
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The United States’ new envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, called for a non-aggression agreement between Syria and Israel in remarks to Saudi channel Al Arabiya on Thursday.
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Israel has ordered the evacuation of the Al Awda hospital in Jabalia in northern Gaza, the strip’s health ministry says. The ministry urged the international community to protect Gaza’s health system and uphold international humanitarian law.
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At least 64 people have been killed since the early hours of this morning by Israeli attacks on Gaza, the Strip’s health ministry says. This means the death toll in Gaza has reached 54,249, the majority of whom were women and children, since the war began in 2023.
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Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has strongly criticised Israel on Thursday, condemning its attacks on the Gaza Strip as “collective punishment of the civilian population.”
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation through an area known as the Netzarim Corridor, central Gaza Strip.
