The US plan for Gaza, seen by Reuters on Friday, proposes a 60–day ceasefire and the release of 28 Israeli hostages – alive and dead – in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians.

The document, which says the plan is guaranteed by US President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, includes sending humanitarian aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement.

The aid will be delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent, and other agreed channels.

The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the US ceasefire proposal.

Israeli media said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted the deal presented by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The prime minister’s office declined to comment.

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas said it had received the Israeli response to the proposal, which it said “fails to meet any of the just and legitimate demands of our people” including an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Hamas official Basem Naim said the Israeli response “fundamentally seeks to entrench the occupation and perpetuate policies of killing and starvation, even during what is supposed to be a period of temporary de-escalation.”

However, he said Hamas’s leadership was carrying out a “thorough and responsible review of the new proposal.”

The US plan provides for Hamas to release the last 30 of the 58 remaining Israeli hostages once a permanent ceasefire is in place. Israel will also cease all military operations in Gaza as soon as the truce takes effect, it shows.

The Israeli army will also redeploy its troops in stages.

Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March.

Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely, be dismantled as a military and governing force, and return all 58 hostages still held in Gaza before it will agree to end the war.

Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack in its south on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 Israelis taken hostage into Gaza.

MOUNTING PRESSURE

Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that are usually reluctant to criticize it openly demanding an end to the war and a major relief effort.

Witkoff told reporters on Wednesday that Washington was close to “sending out a new term sheet” about a ceasefire by the two sides in the conflict.

“I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict,” Witkoff said then.

The 60–day ceasefire, according to the plan, may be extended if negotiations for a permanent ceasefire are not concluded within the set period.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Thursday the terms of the proposal echoed Israel’s position and did not contain commitments to end the war, withdraw Israeli troops or admit aid as Hamas has demanded.

AID DISTRIBUTION

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private group backed by the United States and endorsed by Israel, said it had distributed a total of more than 1.8 million meals this week and it expanded its aid distribution to a third site in Gaza on Thursday. GHF plans to open more sites in coming weeks.

The group, heavily criticized by the United Nations and other aid groups as inadequate and flawed, began its operation this week in Gaza, where the UN has said the population is at risk of famine after an 11-week blockade by Israel on aid entering the enclave.

There were tumultuous scenes on Tuesday as thousands of Palestinians rushed to distribution points and forced private security contractors to retreat.

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Germany will decide whether or not to approve new weapons shipments to Israel based on an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in an interview published on Friday.

Wadephul questioned whether Israel‘s actions in its war with Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza were in line with international law.

“We are examining this and, if necessary, we will authorize further arms deliveries based on this examination,” he said in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The comments build on a shifting tone from Berlin and mounting international criticism of Israel in recent days as the humanitarian situation in Gaza after an Israeli aid blockade tests German support.

Wadephul said it was important that Israel can defend itself given the threats it faces, including from Houthi terrorists, Hezbollah, and Iran.

“For me, there is no question that we have a special responsibility to stand by Israel‘s side,” he said, reiterating the principle of “Staatsraeson” which underpins German support for Israel in atonement for the Holocaust of World War II.

“On the other hand, of course, this does not mean that a government can do whatever it wants,” he said.

On Tuesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said airstrikes on Gaza were no longer justified by the need to fight Hamas, whose Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel killed some 1,200 people and triggered the war.

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Saudi Arabia’s defense minister delivered a blunt message to Iranian officials in Tehran last month: take US President Donald Trump‘s offer to negotiate a nuclear agreement seriously because it presents a way to avoid the risk of war with Israel.

Alarmed at the prospect of further instability in the region, Saudi Arabia’s 89-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz dispatched his son, Prince Khalid bin Salman, with the warning destined for Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to two Gulf sources close to government circles and two Iranian officials.

Present at the closed-door meeting in Tehran, which took place on April 17 in the presidential compound, were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, armed forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the sources said.

While media covered the 37-year-old prince’s visit, the content of the King Salman’s covert message has not been previously reported.

Prince Khalid, who was Saudi ambassador to Washington during Trump‘s first term, warned Iranian officials that the US leader has little patience for drawn-out negotiations, according to the four sources.

Trump had unexpectedly announced just over a week earlier that direct talks were taking place with Tehran, aimed at curbing Iran‘s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. He did so in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had traveled to Washington hoping instead to win support for attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.

In Tehran, Prince Khalid told the group of senior Iranian officials that Trump‘s team would want to reach a deal quickly, and the window for diplomacy would close fast, according to the four sources.

The Saudi minister said it would be better to reach a deal with the US than face the possibility of an Israeli attack if the talks broke down, according to the two Gulf sources.

He argued that the region – already riven by recent conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon – could not withstand a further escalation in tensions, said the two Gulf sources and one senior foreign diplomat familiar with the discussions.

Iranian authorities did not respond to a request for comment before this story was published, but after its publication Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei “categorically denied” Reuters’ report, according to Iran‘s semi-official Fars news agency. Authorities in Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.

The visit by Prince Khalid – the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – was the first by a senior member of the Saudi royal family to Iran in more than two decades. Riyadh and Tehran had long been bitter rivals, often backing opposing sides in proxy wars, until a rapprochement brokered by China in 2023 helped to ease the tensions and restored diplomatic ties.

Over the past two years, Iran‘s regional position has been undermined by heavy military blows inflicted by Israel on its allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and toppling of its close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Western sanctions, meanwhile, have hit its oil-dependent economy hard.

Mohanad Hage Ali, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Middle East Center think tank in Beirut, said that Tehran’s weakness had offered Saudi Arabia the opportunity to exert its diplomatic influence, seeking to avoid a regional conflagration.

“They [the Saudis’ want to avoid war because war and confrontation with Iran will have negative implications on them and their economic vision and ambitions,” he told Reuters.

IRAN WANTS A DEAL 

Reuters was unable to determine the impact of the prince’s message on Iran‘s leadership.

In the meeting, Pezeshkian responded that Iran wanted a deal to ease economic pressure through the lifting of Western sanctions, the four sources said.

However, the Iranian officials, the sources added, expressed concerns over the Trump administration’s “unpredictable” approach to negotiations — which have veered from allowing limited uranium enrichment to demanding the complete dismantling of Tehran’s enrichment program.

Trump also has threatened to use military force if diplomacy fails to rein in the clerical establishment’s nuclear ambitions.

One of the Iranian sources said that Pezeshkian emphasized Tehran’s eagerness to reach a deal but that Iran was not willing to sacrifice its enrichment program just because Trump wanted an agreement.

The ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran have already been through five rounds to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, but multiple stumbling blocks remain, including the key issue of enrichment.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that Iran might pause uranium enrichment if the US releases its frozen funds and recognizes its right to refine uranium for civilian use under a “political deal” that could lead to a broader nuclear accord, according to two Iranian sources familiar with the talks. The semi-official Fars news agency in Iran quoted a foreign ministry spokesman denying the report.

The White House did not directly address Reuters’ questions about whether it was aware of the Saudi warning to Iran.

“President Trump has made it clear: make a deal, or face grave consequences, and the whole world is clearly taking him seriously, as they should,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Trump said on Wednesday he warned Netanyahu last week not to take any actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran, and said the two sides were “very close to a solution now.”

Israeli authorities did not respond to a request for comment.

HIGH STAKES

A four-day visit by Trump to the Gulf this month anointed Saudi Arabia as the most prominent member of a new axis of Sunni states in the Middle East, filling the void left by Iran‘s shattered alliance. During the trip, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman mediated a reconciliation between Trump and Syria’s new Sunni leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Tehran’s regional sway, meanwhile, has been diminished by military setbacks suffered by Iran and its allies in the Shi’ite-dominated Axis of Resistance, which include Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iraqi militias

In the meeting, Prince Khalid urged Iran to rethink its regional policy, noting such a shift would be welcomed, especially by Riyadh, the sources said.

Although he stopped short of directly blaming Iran, the Saudi minister voiced concern over a possible repeat of the 2019 drone attacks on the facilities of state oil company Aramco – attacks the kingdom attributed to Iran and its Houthi allies, despite Tehran’s denial.

Iranian officials maintained that while Tehran holds some influence over the Houthis, it does not fully control their actions, the Iranian sources said.

Decades of hostility between the Shi’ite Iran and Saudi Arabia destabilized the Gulf and fueled regional conflicts from Yemen to Syria. The 2023 detente was driven in part by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed’s economic ambitions and desire for stability, and has led to increased contacts between the governments.

However, neither Saudi Arabia nor other regional powers see Iran as a dependable partner for peace, and they fear its actions could jeopardize their ambitions for economic development, diplomats and regional experts say.

Prince Khalid implored the Iranians to avoid actions by them and their allies that might provoke Washington, stressing that Trump‘s response would likely be more strident than his predecessors, presidents Joe Biden and Barak Obama.

In turn, he assured Tehran that Riyadh would not let its territory or airspace to be used by the United States or Israel for any potential military action against Iran, the sources said.

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