The militant Islamist group has dropped a demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing the agreement, and would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout a first six-week phase, the source told Reuters on Saturday on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
A Palestinian official close to the internationally mediated peace efforts had said the proposal could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel and would end the nine-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Forced displacement is again pushing people in Gaza to seek safety where there is none.— United Nations (@UN) Thousands have left Khan Younis, setting up makeshift shelters among the rubble & on the shore.@UNRWA's efforts to deliver aid are severely hampered by restricted access & security issues. pic.twitter.com/MVtJzTn5PtJuly 5, 2024
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
The war erupted after Hamas attacked southern Israeli cities on October 7, killing 1200 people and taking some 250 hostages.
The Hamas source said the proposal ensures that mediators would guarantee a temporary ceasefire, aid delivery and withdrawal of Israeli troops as long as indirect talks continue to implement the second phase of the agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden on Thursday he would send a delegation to restart negotiations, and an Israeli official said the head of the Mossad intelligence agency would lead his country's team.
Biden welcomed the move and a source in Israel's negotiating team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was now a real chance of achieving agreement.
The Israeli remarks were in sharp contrast to past instances in the nine-month-old war in Gaza when Israel said conditions attached by Hamas were not acceptable.
Hamas later said it rejected the presence of foreign forces in Gaza, signalling its opposition to any plan to send an international contingent to the Gaza Strip to help keep the peace in the Palestinian enclave.
The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a group allied with Hamas, said separately that it would consider any international or other forces in Gaza as occupiers.
The war in the Gaza Strip has displaced hundreds of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis. (EPA PHOTO)
The war in Gaza has displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and caused a humanitarian crisis.
It has also fuelled tension across the region, triggering exchanges of fire across Israel's northern border with the Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
Hamas said it had told Hezbollah it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal in Gaza and that the Lebanese group's leader had welcomed the step, two sources familiar with the matter said.
"If there is a Gaza agreement, then from zero hour there will be a ceasefire in Lebanon," said one of the sources, an official in Hezbollah, which says its rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel are in support of the Palestinians.
Hamas' new proposal responded to a plan made public in late May by Biden that would include the release of about 120 hostages still held in Gaza and a ceasefire.
The plan entails the gradual release of hostages and the pullback of Israeli forces over an initial two phases, and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners.
A third phase involves Gaza's reconstruction.
Israel has previously said it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.
