Egypt Proposes Two-Day Ceasefire For Israeli Hostages

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Worthy News) – Egypt proposed on Sunday an initial two-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange four Israeli hostages of Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners amid ongoing deadly clashes.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made his pitch while Hamas-run authorities claimed Israeli military strikes killed 45 Palestinians across the enclave.

Sisi also said that talks should resume within ten days of implementing the temporary ceasefire to reach a permanent one.

He spoke while William Burns, the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was holding talks in Doha on the possibility of a new wide-ranging hostage deal.

Egypt’s proposal would only mean freedom. Four of 101 captives are still held by Hamas, including the bodies of dozens of hostages feared dead.

The purpose is to kick-start wider negotiations,” a well-informed source was quoted by The Jerusalem Post newspaper as saying.

There was no immediate comment from Israel or Hamas. However, a Palestinian official close to talks told reporters that Hamas would likely “listen to the new offers, but it remains determined that any agreement must end the war and get Israeli forces out of Gaza.”

HAMAS MASSACRE

The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas massacre of some 1,200 people and the kidnapping of about 250 persons in southern Israel on October 7, last year.

Hamas-run authorities claim that about 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since then, without differentiating between combatants and civilians.

On Sunday, Hamas-backed health officials said Israeli military strikes killed “at least 45 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip” on Sunday, most of them in the north.

Among those killed were reportedly two more journalists, bringing the total death toll of media workers in Gaza since the start of the war to 182, according to observers.

The United Nations said the “deliberate killing of a journalist is a war crime,” but Israel has denied targeting reporters.

Separately, Israeli air strikes across Lebanon killed at least 21 people, including three paramedics. In the past 24 hours, authorities said, but those figures could not be verified independently.

Israel has given advance warnings to residents living near presumed Hezbollah sites to evacuate. The Israeli government has accused Iran’s proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon of hiding among civilians to use them as “human shields.”

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