Hamas seeks amendments to Gaza ceasefire proposal. U.S. envoy calls them ‘unacceptable’

TEL AVIV, Israel — Hamas is seeking amendments to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior official with the group told the Associated Press on Saturday, but U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff called the Hamas response “totally unacceptable.”

The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said proposed amendments focused on “the U.S. guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.” There were no details.

A separate Hamas statement said the proposal aims for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an ensured flow of aid. It said 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others would be released ”in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.” Fifty-eight hostages remain and Israel believes 35 are dead.

Witkoff on social media instead described a 60-day ceasefire deal that would free half the living hostages in Gaza and return half of those who have died. He urged Hamas to accept the framework proposal as the basis for talks that he said could begin next week.

Israeli officials have approved the U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the nearly 20-month war. U.S. President Trump has said negotiators were nearing a deal.

“We want the bloodshed to stop,” Motasim, a man from the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said of the talks. ”I swear to God, we are tired.”

Desperation rises inside Gaza

Palestinians in Gaza blocked and offloaded 77 food trucks, the U.N. World Food Program said, as hunger mounts after Israel’s months-long blockade of the territory. The WFP said the aid, mostly flour, was taken before the trucks could reach their destination.

A witness in the southern city of Khan Yunis, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told the AP the U.N. convoy was stopped at a makeshift roadblock and offloaded by desperate civilians in their thousands.

The nearly three-month blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of over 2 million to the brink of famine. While Israel allowed some aid to enter in recent days, aid organizations say far from enough is getting in.

Israel’s military body in charge of aid coordination in Gaza, COGAT, said 579 trucks of aid had entered over the past week. The U.N. has said 600 per day were entering under the previous ceasefire that Israel ended with new bombardment.

The WFP said the fear of starvation in Gaza is high. “We need to flood communities with food for the next few days to calm anxieties,” it said in a statement. It added that it has over 140,000 metric tons of food — enough to feed Gazans for two months — ready to be brought in.

The United Nations said earlier this month that Israeli authorities have forced them to use unsecured routes within areas controlled by Israel’s military in the eastern areas of Rafah and Khan Yunis, where armed gangs are active and trucks were stopped.

Israel says the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation eventually will replace the aid operation that the U.N. and others have carried out during nearly 20 months of war. It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The U.N. denies that significant diversion takes place.

Israel continued its military campaign across Gaza, saying it struck dozens of targets over the past day. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.

The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.

Mednick and Magdy write for the Associated Press. Magdy reported from Cairo.