Hamas announced on Saturday evening that it had submitted its response to the US proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where it has been waging a war with Israel since October 7, 2023, without explicitly stating whether it had accepted it.
The movement's announcement comes a day after Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz threatened to accept the US proposal for a ceasefire and release the hostages still being held in Gaza, or it would be "eliminated."
These threats coincided with US President Donald Trump's assertion that a truce in the devastated Strip was "very close."
The number of living and dead hostages Hamas expressed its willingness to hand over matches the number included in the US proposal presented by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Israel is facing increasing international pressure over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, which has been reduced to rubble. The United Nations says the aid allowed in is only a "drop in the ocean" after a stifling blockade of more than two months.
In a statement released Saturday, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said, "After holding a round of national consultations, and based on our high responsibility towards our people and their suffering, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) today submitted its response to the latest proposal of US envoy Steve Witkoff to the mediating brothers."
It added, "As part of this agreement, ten living prisoners of the occupation held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the delivery of 18 bodies, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners."
Of the 251 people kidnapped during the movement's attack on the Jewish state on October 7, 2023, 57 remain in Gaza, and the army has confirmed at least 34 of them are dead.
The movement's statement indicated that the goal remains "a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensuring the flow of aid to our people and our people in the Strip."
On Friday, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said, "Gaza is the hungriest place in the world, with... 100 percent of the population at risk of starvation."
Earlier this week, Washington announced that it had obtained Israel's approval of the US envoy's proposal, without releasing its full details.
Sources familiar with the negotiations explained that the US proposal includes a truce of 60 days, extendable to 70 days, and Hamas's release of five living and nine deceased hostages during the first week, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners by the Jewish state. A second exchange involving the same number of living and deceased hostages is to take place during the second week.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, killed 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to a tally compiled by Agence France-Presse based on official sources.
In response to the attack, more than 54,321 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Negotiations to end the nearly 20-month-old war have made little progress since Israel resumed military operations in mid-March.
This followed a six-week truce. Israel then intensified its operations on May 17, claiming the goal was to eliminate Hamas and free the hostages still being held in the Strip.
On Saturday evening, the Israeli military announced that sirens sounded in the south of the country after several projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip, noting that they had landed in uninhabited areas.
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