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Israel Proposes Hostage Deal as Fighting Continues in Gaza
Smoke rises following an explosion in North Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, March 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel has proposed an extended truce in Gaza in exchange for the return of about half the remaining hostages, Israeli officials said on Monday, as the military issued new evacuation orders and said “intense operations” were planned in the south of the enclave.
The latest proposals would leave open a final agreement over ending the Israel-Hamas war that has destroyed wide swathes of Gaza since it began in October 2023.
But the proposals foresee the return of half the 24 hostages believed still to be alive in Gaza nearly 18 months after they were seized by Hamas-led terrorists – and about half the 35 assumed to be dead – during a truce lasting between 40 and 50 days, said the Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would step up pressure on Hamas but would continue negotiations “under fire.” Continued military pressure was the best means of securing the return of the hostages, he said.
Netanyahu also repeated Israeli demands for Hamas to disarm although the Palestinian terrorist group has rejected such calls as a “red line” it will not cross.
Netanyahu said Hamas leaders would be allowed to leave Gaza under a wider settlement that would include proposals from US President Donald Trump for the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the narrow Strip.
EVACUATION ORDERS
On Monday, the Israeli military told Palestinians living in areas around the southern city of Rafah to relocate to Al Mawasi, an area on the shoreline.
“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is returning to intense operations to dismantle the capabilities of the terrorist organizations in these areas,” the military’s Arabic language spokesperson said in a statement.
Hamas said at the weekend that it had accepted proposals made by Qatari and Egyptian mediators which security sources said would entail five hostages being released every week in exchange for a truce.
The Israeli military, which has cut off aid to Gaza, resumed operations on March 18 after a two-month truce, during which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais were released in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Efforts to move to a second phase in the ceasefire agreement signed with US backing in January have largely stalled, with no sign of movement to overcome fundamental differences between the two sides over the postwar future.
Israel has said Hamas’s military and government capacity must be entirely dismantled and says the group, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, can have no role in the future governance of the enclave.
Hamas says it is willing to step back to allow another Palestinian administration to take its place but has refused to disarm and says it must play a part in choosing whatever government follows.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza following an attack by Hamas-led terrorists on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.
In response, Israel launched a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas’s ability to threaten the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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