“Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as a delegation from his group was set to meet mediators in Cairo later in the day.
The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 that the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel says the renewed military campaign aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives.
According to figures released on Friday by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, the renewed Israeli campaign since March 18 had killed at least 2,062 Palestinians, taking the overall war death toll in the territory to 51,439.
In a latest attack, Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on Gaza City on Saturday killed at least four people and left “more than 30” feared buried under the rubble of a house.
“Our crews were able to recover four martyrs and five wounded following the attack,” which hit a family home in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood at dawn, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which more than a month ago had resumed its offensive against Hamas across the Gaza Strip.
Bassal said that “more than 30” people are presumed missing under the rubble of the targeted house in Gaza City, in the territory’s north, and “our crews cannot reach them because of the lack of the necessary machinery”. (AFP)
