°®Âþµº

Hamas has allegedly conceded on two of the terms it initially demanded in a ceasefire deal with Israel, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Thursday, while Israel continued its bombardment of the Gaza Strip killing at least 35 people.

According to the WSJ report, one of the concessions was Hamas telling mediators that they would agree to a deal that would allow Israeli forces to remain in some areas of Gaza temporarily when the fighting stops.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has an arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, reportedly refused to comment on the WSJ report, but said earlier this week there were developments in truce talks.

However Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday that there was now a chance for a new deal that would see a return of all the captives and pause the fighting in Gaza, his office said in a statement.

°®Âþµºâ€™s Arabic language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said earlier this week that Hamas has handed over a list of names of captives they would release in a truce deal, as well as the names of Palestinian prisoners they would like to see freed from Israeli jails.

The step marks progress in negotiations and comes following incoming US president-elect Donald Trump’s threat that there would be "hell to pay" if the captives are not released before his inauguration in January.

The latest proposal entails a 60-day ceasefire period where 30 captives would be released from Gaza while Israel will free a number of Palestinian prisoners and allow emergency aid into Gaza.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported on Thursday that a Palestinian Islamic Jihad delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to further discuss the deal and ways to bring aid into Gaza.

The visit comes after a high-level Israeli security delegation headed by Mossad chief David Barnea also arrived in Cairo to discuss the deal.

According to reports, the Israeli delegation met with officials from Egypt’s general intelligence service, where they discussed the status of the Rafah crossing and security arrangements along the border between Egypt and Gaza as well as where the Israeli army would reduce its presence.

On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted two resolutions on Palestine, the first calling for a ceasefire in Gaza while the second expressed support for the mandate of the UN agency UNRWA and condemned Israeli legislation which banned their aid operations.

The ceasefire resolution was supported by 158 countries, with 13 abstentions, while nine countries voted against it.

Israeli strikes in Gaza

Israel continued to strike the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 35 people since dawn, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

The strikes targeted several areas, including a residential building in Gaza City’s al-Jalaa Street.

Local sources said that at least 15 of those killed were targeted in a house belonging to the al-Louh family, where displaced people were sheltering.

On Wednesday, an Israeli attack on Palestinian security guards transporting humanitarian aid shipments killed at least 12 and wounded dozens, Al-Jazeera Arabic reported.

Videos circulating online showed bodies piled up in a morgue, who are believed to be the aid convoy’s security staff.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed 44,805 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 and wounded over 106,257 others in the same time frame. The bombardment of the enclave has levelled entire neighbourhoods and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.