Hamas Response to Gaza Ceasefire Proposal ‘Consistent’ with Principles of US Plan, Leader Says

Palestinians attend Eid al-Adha prayer in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza strip, 16 June 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Adha prayer in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza strip, 16 June 2024. (EPA)
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Hamas Response to Gaza Ceasefire Proposal ‘Consistent’ with Principles of US Plan, Leader Says

Palestinians attend Eid al-Adha prayer in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza strip, 16 June 2024. (EPA)
Palestinians attend Eid al-Adha prayer in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza strip, 16 June 2024. (EPA)

Hamas' response to the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal is consistent with the principles put forward in US President Joe Biden's plan, the group's Qatar-based leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised speech on the occasion of the Islamic Eid al-Adha on Sunday.

"Hamas and the (Palestinian) groups are ready for a comprehensive deal which entails a ceasefire, withdrawal from the strip, the reconstruction of what was destroyed and a comprehensive swap deal," Haniyeh said, referring to the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

On May 31, Biden laid out what he called a "three-phase" Israeli proposal that would include negotiations for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza as well as phased exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Egypt and Qatar - which along with the United States have been mediating between Hamas and Israel - said on June 11 that they had received a response from the Palestinian groups to the US plan, without giving further details.

While Israel said Hamas rejected key elements of the US plan, a senior Hamas leader told Reuters that the changes the group requested were "not significant".



Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a city in the western Darfur region, killing more than 30 people, an activist group said, in the latest deadly offensive on an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The RSF and allied militias launched an offensive on el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday, according to the Resistance Committees, an activist group. Dozens of other people were wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war.

The RSF renewed its attack on Monday, shelling residential buildings and open markets in the city, the group said. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, is under the control of the military, which has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war more than two years ago, killing more than 24,000 people, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is likely far higher.

The RSF has been attempting to seize el-Fasher for a year to complete its control of the entire Darfur region. Since then, it has launched many attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the ongoing war and previous bouts of violence in Darfur.

The attacks on el-Fasher have intensified in recent months as the RSF suffered battlefield setbacks in Khartoum and other urban areas in the county’s east and center.

Sunday’s violence came less than a week after a two-day attack by the RSF and its allied militias on the city and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, according to the United Nations.

Last week’s attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp, Sudan’s largest, which has become inaccessible to aid workers, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.