Meanwhile, mediators are studying the response that the Palestinian movement "Hamas" gave to the proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
According to an Israeli source quoted by Reuters, the "Hamas" movement has rejected the proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden.
"This evening, Israel received the response from "Hamas" through a mediator. In the response, "Hamas" rejects the proposal to release the hostages," an Israeli official said, requesting anonymity. "They (Hamas) have changed all the basic and most important parameters," the Israeli representative said.
Late yesterday, Hamas announced that it had submitted to the mediators its response to the proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, requesting some "amendments" to the agreement, the Associated Press reported. It appears that Hamas's response is not sufficient for the categorical acceptance that the United States has insisted on, but negotiations to stop the eight-month war continue, the agency added.
The foreign ministries of Qatar and Egypt, which are key mediators along with the United States, confirmed that they had received Hamas' response and said that the mediators were studying it. White House spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the response had been received and was "currently being reviewed."
According to Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha, the response included "amendments that confirm the ceasefire, the withdrawal, the reinstatement and the (prisoner) exchange." Taha did not provide further details.
While supporting the broad outlines of the deal, Hamas officials expressed concerns about whether Israel would fulfill its part of the terms, especially the provisions for a final cessation of hostilities and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in exchange for the release of all hostages held by the militants.
Although the United States said Israel had accepted the offer, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave mixed signals, saying Israel would not stop until it achieved its goal of destroying “Hamas“, the AP points out.
This week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is on his eighth consecutive tour of the region in an attempt to push through the agreement. He continued to press Hamas yesterday, saying the UN Security Council vote had shown "as clearly as possible" that the world supports the plan.
Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reaffirmed his commitment to the proposal when they met late on Monday.
In a joint statement announcing their response to Qatar and Egypt, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group said they were ready to "work positively towards an agreement" and that their priority was a "complete cessation" of the war. A senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Lebanese television station Al-Mayadeen that the group had "presented some observations on the mediators' proposal," but did not specify what they were.
The proposal raised hopes of ending the eight-month conflict, in which Israeli bombing and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, and displaced about 80 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million people. Israeli restrictions and ongoing fighting have hampered efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the isolated coastal enclave, fueling widespread hunger.
Israel began its campaign vowing to eliminate “Hamas” after the group and other militants invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire last year in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, the AP recalls.
Blinken, who was in Cairo on Monday, is also expected to visit Qatar, where talks are likely to focus on the next steps to push through the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the agency reported.
On Monday, the UN Security Council voted overwhelmingly on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with 14 of 15 countries supporting it and Russia abstaining.
Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said last night, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
The Israeli army said it had carried out an operation against militants in a village near the city of Jenin, killing four gunmen in a shootout.
Palestinian armed groups did not immediately comment on the report.
A video clip, which was shared on social media but could not be immediately verified by Reuters, showed an unarmed wounded man lying on the road and calling for an ambulance before being shot in the thigh. The footage, shot on a mobile phone, was filmed through a window from a height and distance.
Violence in the West Bank was high even before Israel's war against "Hamas" in the Gaza Strip began in October. Since then, however, violence in the West Bank has escalated with frequent army raids on paramilitary groups, riots by Jewish settlers and deadly Palestinian street attacks.
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are territories that Israel captured in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want to create their own independent state there, Reuters notes.
A commander of the Lebanese pro-Iranian group “Hezbollah“ was killed in an Israeli air strike late last night in southern Lebanon, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA. According to a security source, this is the highest-ranking member of “Hezbollah“ killed by Israel in the past eight months.
“Hezbollah“ identifies the slain commander as Taleb Abdallah.
The Associated Press added that at least four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a village in southern Lebanon, including a senior Hezbollah commander.
Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon have killed about 300 Hezbollah fighters, the AP noted.