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A Look at Gaza Ceasefire Talks After Hamas Accepts a New Proposal 

Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid packages from the United Arab Emirates, airdropped by parachutes into Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid packages from the United Arab Emirates, airdropped by parachutes into Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP)
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A Look at Gaza Ceasefire Talks After Hamas Accepts a New Proposal 

Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid packages from the United Arab Emirates, airdropped by parachutes into Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid packages from the United Arab Emirates, airdropped by parachutes into Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP)

Hamas says it has accepted a proposal from Arab mediators for a ceasefire in the 22-month war sparked by its Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel. Israel has not yet responded and says it is still committed to defeating the group.

The latest proposal developed by Egypt and Qatar contains only slight modifications to an earlier one advanced by the United States and accepted by Israel, according to Egyptian and Hamas officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.

The deal would include a 60-day truce, the release of some of the hostages held by Hamas in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza and talks on a lasting ceasefire.

Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed. President Donald Trump gave support to those goals Monday in a social media post, saying Hamas must be “confronted and destroyed” to ensure the return of the remaining hostages.

A ceasefire, a hostage release and an influx of aid The details of the latest proposal have not been made public, but the two Egyptian officials and two Hamas officials described the broad outlines to The Associated Press.

There would be a 60-day ceasefire in which Israeli forces would pull back to a buffer zone extending 800 meters (875 yards) into Gaza. The officials said Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, had proposed 1,500 meters (1,640 yards) and Hamas countered with 600 meters (656 yards) before the talks stalled last month.

Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases, in exchange for the release of around 1,700 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 200 serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks.

Hamas-led fighters took 251 people hostage in the Oct. 7 attack and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians. Fifty hostages are still in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel would allow 600 trucks of humanitarian aid to enter each day, a major increase that could help arrest what experts have described as the territory's slide toward famine. Israel allowed a similar amount of aid to enter during a ceasefire earlier this year.

During the temporary ceasefire, the sides would negotiate a lasting truce, the release of the remaining hostages and the further withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Israel is committed to destroying Hamas Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that while he will halt the fighting temporarily to facilitate the release of hostages, he will not end the war until Hamas has been defeated and disarmed.

Even then, he says Israel will maintain security control over Gaza and facilitate the relocation of much of its population to other countries through what he describes as voluntary emigration. Palestinians and much of the international community view it as forcible expulsion.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu announced plans to occupy Gaza City and other densely populated areas, which would likely result in even more casualties and further waves of mass displacement. Those threats were partly aimed at pressuring Hamas.

Israel's offensive has already killed over 62,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up around half of those killed. Vast areas of Gaza have been completely destroyed.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and run by medical professionals. The UN and many independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. Israel disputes them but has not provided its own numbers.

Hamas is severely weakened but not defeated Hamas has suffered heavy losses through nearly two years of war.

Most of its top leaders have been killed, its rocket supplies have been vastly depleted, and Israel has regularly announced the destruction of tunnel complexes and other military infrastructure. Iran and Hamas' other regional allies are in disarray after Israeli and US strikes.

The Israeli military says it now controls at least 75% of Gaza, with much of the population and the remnants of Hamas' government and police force largely confined to Gaza City, built-up refugee camps from the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation and Muwasi, a sprawling tent camp along the coast.

The hostages are Hamas' last bargaining chip and its only hope of emerging from the war with something it can try to portray as a victory.

The group has said it will only release the remaining captives in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal. Hamas says it is willing to hand over power to other Palestinians but will not lay down its arms as long as Israel occupies lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

Israel says any arrangement that leaves Hamas intact and armed would allow it to eventually rebuild its forces and launch another Oct. 7-style attack.

The US role is crucial Israel has been tight-lipped about the talks, and it's unclear when it will respond. The Security Cabinet, which would need to approve any such deal, usually meets on Thursdays.

In the meantime, all eyes are on Washington.

Trump helped to get a previous ceasefire across the finish line in January after former President Joe Biden's administration and Arab mediators had spent months hammering it out. The US then offered its full support when Israel ended that truce and resumed its air and ground war in March.

Trump alone might be able to convince Israel to halt the war without trying to eradicate Hamas at the cost of countless more Palestinian lives and possibly the remaining hostages.

He says he wants to return the hostages and end the war but has not publicly pressured Israel. In a post Monday on his Truth Social website, Trump appeared once again to express full support for Netanyahu's endgame.

“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” he wrote. “Play to WIN, or don’t play at all!”

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Arab World

Lebanon: Hezbollah Boycotts Cabinet Session over Iran Ambassador Expulsion

A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
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Lebanon: Hezbollah Boycotts Cabinet Session over Iran Ambassador Expulsion

A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)
A previous session of the Lebanese Parliament (National News Agency)

Ministers from Hezbollah and its ally Amal boycotted Lebanon's cabinet session on Thursday in protest over the government declaring the Iranian ambassador persona non grata, a Lebanese official told AFP.

The two Shiite parties have a combined four ministers, with one independent Shiite also represented in the cabinet present at the meeting, the official said, as the spat over the Iranian diplomat's expulsion escalated.

Hezbollah is an armed movement backed by Iran, which also has political representation in both government and parliament.

Arab World

Lebanese Fear Another Occupation as Israel Threatens to Use Gaza Tactics in the South

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Lebanese Fear Another Occupation as Israel Threatens to Use Gaza Tactics in the South

Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 25 March 2026. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

As Israel trades fire with Hezbollah, calls for mass evacuations and sends ground troops deeper into Lebanon, its leaders have hinted at a long-term occupation modeled on the devastating conquest of much of Gaza after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Israel says it needs to establish a zone of control in the depopulated south to shield its own northern communities, which have faced daily rocket attacks since the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group joined the wider war. Many in Lebanon fear that could mean the open-ended displacement of over a million people, the flattening of their homes and a loss of territory.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said this week that it would create a “security zone” up to the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border in some places. He said troops would destroy homes, which he claimed were being used by militants, and that residents would not return until northern Israel is safe.

The campaign would mirror the one in Gaza, in which Israeli forces flattened and largely depopulated the eastern half of the Palestinian territory, Katz said on Tuesday. Israel has said it won't withdraw from the enclave until Hamas disarms as part of a US-brokered ceasefire deal.

“We have ordered an acceleration in the destruction of Lebanese homes in contact-line villages to neutralize threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza,” Katz said, referring to border towns that were largely obliterated.

From one war to the next

After a 2024 ceasefire halted Israel's last war with Hezbollah, Israeli forces gradually withdrew from southern Lebanon except for five strategic hilltops along the border.

Lebanese returned to find that homes, infrastructure, and some entire villages destroyed. Israel said it had dismantled Hezbollah infrastructure that could have been used to launch an Oct. 7-style attack, and it continued to strike what it said were militant targets on a near-daily basis after the truce.

Hezbollah resumed it attacks after Israel and the United States launched the war with Iran on Feb. 28, accusing Israel of having repeatedly violated the ceasefire. Israel accused Lebanon's government of failing to carry out its pledge to disarm Hezbollah, despite its unprecedented steps toward criminalizing the group.

In the latest fighting, Israel has launched blistering air raids across Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people — mostly outside of the border area — and displacing over a million. It has warned residents to evacuate a wide swath of the south, extending from the border to the Zahrani River, some 55 kilometers (34 miles) away.

The Israeli military says it has launched a limited ground operation. Political leaders speak of more ambitious plans.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister and a member of its Security Cabinet, said this week that the current war must end with “fundamental change.”

“The Litani must be our new border with the state of Lebanon,” he said.

Echoes of an earlier occupation Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982 during the country's civil war. Hezbollah, established that year, waged a guerrilla campaign that eventually ended the Israeli occupation in 2000.

This time around, Israel has bombed seven bridges over the Litani, the northern edge of a UN-patrolled buffer zone established after previous conflicts. Israel says Hezbollah was using the bridges to move fighters and weapons, and that its military will control the remaining crossings.

Heavy fighting has meanwhile erupted in the town of Khiam, the fall of which would cut off the south from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, another area with a large Hezbollah presence.

After the bridges were bombed, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of seeking to sever the south from the rest of the country “to establish a buffer zone, entrench the reality of occupation, and pursue Israeli expansion within Lebanese territories.”

UN peacekeepers say the bombing of the bridges and ongoing clashes have hindered their operations and put personnel at risk.

“This is the closest fighting activity we have seen to our positions,” said Kandice Ardel, spokesperson for the UN mission known as UNIFIL. “Bullets, fragments, and shrapnel have hit buildings and open areas inside our headquarters.”

Ardel said peacekeepers at observation points have seen a growing presence of Israeli troops and “engineering assets,” though they have not seen any new military positions built yet.

‘Different shades’ of control

Mohanad Hage Ali, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East think tank in Beirut, said Israel has already established “different shades” of control.

“The first line of borders is a no-man zone. This is basically a large parking lot that is facing Israel,” he said. “There is nothing there, no movement, nothing at all.”

Lebanese movement is restricted farther north. During last year's olive harvest, farmers struggled to reach their groves because of regular Israeli strikes and had to be accompanied by Lebanese troops and UNIFIL peacekeepers, who coordinated with Israel.

Sarit Zehavi, the founder and president of the Alma Institute and a retired Israeli military officer, said Israel will likely establish a more extensive area of control stretching farther north.

She acknowledged that Israel was unlikely to defeat Hezbollah and was at risk of having to maintain a long-term presence in southern Lebanon.

“But the other alternative is to take the risk that we will be slaughtered. It’s as simple as that,” she said.

No diplomatic offramp in sight

Lebanon's government has broken a longstanding taboo by proposing direct talks with Israel. It has also taken action against Hezbollah since the last war, criminalizing its activities and claiming to have dismantled hundreds of military positions.

But neither the US nor Israel has shown any interest in such talks as they focus on the wider war with Iran.

If negotiations occur, Israel could demand major concessions in exchange for relinquishing territory taken by force — an updated version of the decades-old “land for peace” formula.

Israel seized parts of Syria after the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is in talks with the new government in Damascus about an updated security arrangement. In Gaza, it has vowed to keep half the territory until the militant Palestinian Hamas group lays down its arms, as each side has accused the other of violating the truce reached in October.

Lebanese who fled their homes are meanwhile in limbo — and some fear they may never return.

Elias Konsol and his neighbors fled the Christian border village of Alma al-Shaab with UNIFIL's help. He was reunited with his mother, who cried in his arms, at a church near Beirut where funeral services were being held for a resident killed in an Israeli strike.

Konsol said there were no weapons or Hezbollah fighters in his village, but it was forced to evacuate anyway.

“We no longer know our fate,” he said. “We don’t know if we will see our homes and village again.”

Arab World

Lebanon: Hezbollah Claims Targeting 10 Israeli Merkava Tanks

Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
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Lebanon: Hezbollah Claims Targeting 10 Israeli Merkava Tanks

Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Israeli tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in northern Israel, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah group said Thursday that it struck10 Israeli Merkava tanks in three southern towns along the border.

In a series of separate statements, Hezbollah said that its members targeted the advanced Israeli tanks with guided missiles in the towns of Deir Siryan, Debel, and Al-Qantara, and achieved confirmed hits.

Earlier, Hezbollah said it targeted the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of War in the center of Tel Aviv, and the Dolphin barracks of the Military Intelligence Division north of Tel Aviv with a number of missiles.

The Israeli military said an Israeli soldier was killed in fighting in south Lebanon after the army announced it was conducting ground operations against Hezbollah.

"Staff sergeant Ori Greenberg, aged 21, from Petah Tikva, a soldier of the Reconnaissance unit, Golani Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon," the military said.

In total, three Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in south Lebanon since Hezbollah drew the country into the Israel and US war on Iran by launching rocket attacks against Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel is responding by launching large-scale raids on Lebanon, while its forces have advanced into southern Lebanon.

After the Lebanese Presidency repeatedly announced its readiness to open direct negotiations with Israel in order to end the war, Hezbollah announced its refusal to negotiate "under fire."

Its Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, said Wednesday in a statement: "When negotiating with the Israeli enemy under fire is proposed, it is an imposition of surrender and a deprivation of all of Lebanon's capabilities."

He called on the government to "reverse its decision to criminalize resistance and the resistance fighters," after announcing a ban on the party's security and military activities, as part of a series of unprecedented measures it has taken since the outbreak of the war.