WEST
BANK/GAZA/DOHA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Hamas said on Tuesday it had
received and was studying a new proposal for a ceasefire and release of
hostages in Gaza, presented by mediators after talks with Israel, in
what appeared to be the most serious peace initiative for months.
A
senior Hamas official told Reuters the proposal involved a three-stage
truce, during which the group would first release remaining civilians
among hostages it captured on Oct. 7, then soldiers, and finally the
bodies of hostages that were killed.
The
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not indicate how
long the stages would last or what was envisioned to follow the final
stage.
But
it was the first time since the collapse of the only brief truce of the
war so far, in late November, that details were released of a new
proposal being considered by both sides.
The
ceasefire proposal followed talks in Paris involving intelligence
chiefs from Israel, the United States and Egypt, with the prime minister
of Qatar. In a mark of the seriousness of the negotiations, Hamas chief
Ismail Haniyeh said he was going to Cairo to discuss it, his first
public trip there for more than a month.
But
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his vow not to pull
troops out of Gaza until "total victory", a reminder of the huge gap in
the public stances of the warring sides over what it would take to halt
combat even temporarily.
Hamas,
whose fighters precipitated the war by storming into Israeli towns on
Oct. 7 killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, says it will
release its remaining captives only as part of a wider deal to end the
war permanently.
Israel,
which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians so far in a war that has
devastated the enclave, says it will not stop fighting until the
militant group which has ruled Gaza since 2007 is eradicated.
Netanyahu
is under pressure from ally Washington to chart a path towards ending
the war, and domestically from relatives of hostages who worry that
negotiations are the only way to bring them home. But far-right parties
in his ruling coalition say they will quit rather than endorse a deal to
free hostages that left Hamas intact.
HOSPITAL RAID
The diplomatic advances were announced hours after Israeli commandos, disguised
as medical workers and Muslim women, stormed into a hospital in the
West Bank in an undercover raid. They killed three Palestinian
militants, including a paralysed fighter shot dead on the bed where he
was being treated.
In
Gaza itself, there was intense fighting in both the northern and
southern halves of the enclave, with battle resuming in the north even
as Israeli forces are trying to storm the main southern city Khan
Younis.
The
Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli troops advancing in Khan Younis
stormed the hospital where the rescue service has its headquarters, and
ordered staff and displaced civilians out at gunpoint. Israel denied
this. Reuters could not independently verify either account.
Hamas
leader Haniyeh said he was studying the ceasefire proposal. The
priority for Hamas was to end the Israeli offensive and secure a full
troop withdrawal, he said.
Netanyahu,
speaking during a visit to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank,
said: "We will not compromise on anything less than total victory."