Hamas proposes 5-year Gaza truce, one-time hostages release

Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all hostages released and secure a five-year truce, an official said on Saturday ahead of talks with mediators.

A Hamas delegation was in Cairo to discuss with Egyptian mediators ways out of the 18-month war.

The Hamas official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinian group "is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years."

The latest bid to seal a ceasefire follows an Israeli proposal which Hamas had rejected earlier this month as "partial," calling instead for a "comprehensive" agreement to halt the war.

The Israeli offer included a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the return of 10 living hostages.

Hamas has consistently demanded that a truce deal must lead to an end to the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a surge in humanitarian aid into the besieged territory — where on Friday the United Nations warned food stocks were running out.

Israel, for its part, demands the return of all hostages seized in the 2023 attack, and Hamas's disarmament, which the group has rejected as a "red line."

More than a month into a renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza after a two-month truce, a Hamas official said earlier this week that its delegation in Cairo would discuss "new ideas" on a ceasefire.

Qatar, the United States and Egypt brokered one truce which began on January 19 and enabled a surge in aid, alongside exchanges of hostages and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. But it collapsed amid disagreements over the terms of the ceasefire's next stage.

On Friday, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) — one of the main providers of food aid in the Palestinian territory — said it had "delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip."

It said "these kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days."

Following the WFP warning, the World Health Organization's chief said medical supplies were also "running out" in Gaza while 16 WHO trucks wait to enter.

"This aid blockade must end. Lives depend on it," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

Despite warnings from aid agencies and foreign governments, Israel has denied there is hunger in Gaza and says blocking aid is meant to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Israel to allow the World Food Programme to work in Gaza, saying food must not be used as a 'political tool,' hours after the UN agency ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies.

"The UN World Food Programme just announced that its food stocks in Gaza have run out because of the Israeli Government's blockade - food cannot be used as a political tool," Carney said on X.

Agence France-Presse