Israel-Gaza war: Hamas accept UN ceasefire

Hamas have accepted a UN security council ceasefire resolution and is ready to negotiate over the details, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the statement of support for a UN resolution backing the proposal was a “hopeful sign”.

The news comes shortly after Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Grantz resigned from the emergency government in a sign of deepening divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's post-conflict plans for Gaza.

Mr Gantz resigned on Sunday with a "heavy heart".

"Unfortunately, Mr Netanyahu is preventing us from approaching true victory, which is the justification for the painful ongoing crisis," he said.

Grantz sat on the centre right-side of Benjamin Netanyahu's right wing coalition, which is divided on how best to recover hostages from the October 7 attacks.

Opposition leader and centrist Yair Lapid backed Mr Gantz's decision as “important and right” on social media.

Immediately after the announcement, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded a place in the war cabinet.

Mr Ben-Gvir is part of a right-wing coalition that has threatened to quit and collapse the government if Israel accepts a ceasefire proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden.

Speaking on the UN Security council deal, Israel’s finance minister, the far-right Bezalel Smotrich, said he would oppose any deal, calling it “collective suicide” and saying that releasing Palestinian detainees would lead to the murder of Jews.

This is not the fire ceasefire proposal rejected by the Israeli government, who turned down a Qatari-Egypt Ceasefire accepted by Hamas in May of this year.

Today's ceasefire proposal, backed by the UN and the United States, would see a resolution calling for Hamas to agree to a three-phase hostage-for-ceasefire proposal outlined by Joe Biden, the first time the body has endorsed a comprehensive peace deal to end the Gaza war.

As outlined in this month's The Message, the situation in Gaza "will only end when the USA calls a halt".

The plan calls for an initial exchange of elderly, sick or female hostages for Palestinian detainees held by Israel during an initial six-week ceasefire.

This would then evolve into a permanent end to hostilities and the release of all hostages in a second phase that would be negotiated by the two parties and US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

A third phase would involve a major reconstruction effort. The UN has estimated that half of all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli bombardment.

More than 37,164 Palestinians have been killed and 84,832 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since 7 October according to the Gaza health ministry.

Conversations on plans for Gaza after the ceasefire would continue on Tuesday afternoon and in the next couple of days, Secretary Blinken said.

“It’s imperative that we have these plans" the US Secretary of State said.

On his eighth visit to the region since 7 October Mr Blinken spent Monday in Egypt and then travelled to Israel where he met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant. He also met with families of those being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas.

Today's proposed ceasefire comes shortly after an Israeli raid on a refugee camp - which led to the rescue of four hostages - killed 274 people, making it one of the deadliest days of the conflict so far.