Hamas agrees to new truce proposal

DOHA/CAIRO — A top Hamas official said on Saturday the group approved a new Gaza ceasefire proposal put forth by mediators, urging Israel to back it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed it had also received a proposal from the mediators and had submitted a counterproposal in response.

"Two days ago, we received a proposal from the mediators in Egypt and Qatar," Khalil al-Hayya said in a televised address.

"We dealt with it positively and approved it. We hope that the occupation (Israel) will not obstruct it," said Hayya, who leads the Hamas negotiating team in indirect talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the current conflict.

Netanyahu's office said it had held a series of consultations on the proposal that was received from the mediators, and that Israel had conveyed to the mediators a counterproposal in full coordination with the United States.

In response to calls on Hamas to disarm by Israel and the United States, Hayya said the group's arsenal was a red line and that it would not disarm as long as the "Israeli" occupation exists.

Israel and the US say Hamas must not have a role in postwar Gaza arrangements.

Security sources told Reuters on Thursday that Egypt had received positive indications from Israel over a new ceasefire proposal that would include a transitional phase.

The proposal suggests Hamas release five of the Israeli hostages it is holding each week, the sources said.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continued on Sunday, killing eight people, including five children, in Khan Younis, the civil defense agency said.

The Israeli military said it had begun "ground activity" in the Jneina neighborhood of the Rafah area to expand what it described as the security zone in southern Gaza.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned on Saturday that if Israel's attacks on Lebanon continue and the Lebanese state does not act to stop them, the group will eventually resort to other alternatives.

The remark came a day after Israel launched an attack on Lebanon's capital for the first time since a ceasefire ended the last Israel-Hezbollah conflict in November.

The strike on Beirut came hours after two rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel, and Hezbollah denied firing them.

There was no immediate response from Israeli officials.

A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon patrol came under fire from the Israeli army on Saturday afternoon along the Blue Line, which separates Lebanon and Israel, according to a statement from the peacekeeping force.

Agencies via Xinhua