Israel is working to return all the hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, adding that Qatar and Egypt have put forward two separate proposals to move the matter forward.
“We are holding contacts at this very moment,” he told relatives of the hostages at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. “I cannot detail the status. We are working to return them all. This is our goal.”
Coordinator for the Hostages and Missing Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch and National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi were also present.
Netanyahu spoke with the relatives before a meeting of the war cabinet.
On Thursday, Egypt said it had put forward a framework proposal to end the war. It includes three stages, ending with a ceasefire, it said, adding that it was waiting for responses.
Egypt ceasefire proposal flounders
Egypt would give further details of the plan once those responses are received, Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said in a statement.
The proposal is an attempt “to bring viewpoints between all concerned parties closer, to stop Palestinian bloodshed and the aggression against the Gaza Strip, and restore peace and stability to the region,” he said.
A report about an initial Egyptian deal had spoken of a first phase that would allow for the release of some 40 hostages, including women, children, and elderly men.
Qatar has also put forward a proposal with a similar element that focuses on a partial deal, Channel 12 reported. US President Joe Biden spoke earlier this week with the Emir of Qatar to discuss the hostages.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad want to link a hostage deal to end the war, which has displaced more than 1.9 million out of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. According to Hamas, more than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in war-related violence. Israel has said more than 8,000 of them were combatants.
COGAT said 109 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected at Nitzana and transferred to Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Thursday. Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing was “closed for the inspection of aid trucks today due to logistic constraints on the Gazan side of the crossing,” it said.
The US would like to see at least 200 trucks of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza and has spoken with Israel about moving from a high-intensity to a low-intensity war. Israel has accused the United Nations of delaying the distribution of aid, while the UN has said it is unable to operate effectively in Gaza due to the war.
Israel has also said Hamas and others in Gaza often steal the aid before it can be distributed.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday spoke with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about preparations for the day after Israel ends its “major combat operations,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
“The Secretary reiterated US resolve to ensure Hamas can no longer threaten Israel’s security and underscored the importance of protecting Gaza’s civilians and accelerating humanitarian assistance,” it said.
Austin and Gallant also discussed “regional security, including Hezbollah’s destabilizing activities in southern Lebanon, Iran-aligned militia attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria, and Houthi assaults against international commerce in the Red Sea,” it added.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron visited Lebanon on Thursday to meet with Prime Minister Nab Mikati to discuss regional tensions.
“An escalation of the conflict in Gaza to Lebanon, the Red Sea, or across the wider region would add to the extremely high level of danger and insecurity in the world,” Cameron said in a post on X after the meeting.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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