By Abdelraouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel claimed Thursday that it has not received an official response from Hamas regarding its proposal for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap.
“We have not yet received an official response from Hamas regarding our proposal,” the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said, citing an Israeli official.
Last week, US President Joe Biden said Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said Monday that he was “not ready to stop" the war on Gaza, calling Biden's remarks about the cease-fire proposal “inaccurate.”
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 36,650 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,300 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul.