Hamas was offered 40-day ceasefire in exchange for release of hostages, UK’s FM

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli air raid in Rafah, Gaza [Mohammad Jahjouh/AP Photo]

Hamas has been offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of “potentially thousands” of Palestinian prisoners in return for freeing Israeli hostages, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Monday as Hamas negotiators are due to hold a new round of talks in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Summary:

• Hamas has been offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of “potentially thousands” of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for freeing Israeli hostages, said British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday.
• A Hamas delegation met with negotiators in Cairo, Egypt, before returning to Qatar to deliberate “ideas and proposals” discussed during the talks, a Hamas source told AFP on Monday.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged Hamas to swiftly accept an Israeli proposal for a truce, which he called “extraordinarily generous”.
• Student demonstrators at New York’s Columbia University on Monday defied an ultimatum to disperse or face immediate suspension as protests erupted at several US colleges. Protesters have vowed to keep their encampment on the campus until Columbia meets three demands: divestment, transparency in Columbia’s finances and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their part in the protests.
• Hamas’s al Qassam Brigades on Monday said its militants in southern Lebanon had launched a slew of rockets at a northern Israeli military position.
• French police broke up a student protest demanding an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
• At least 34,488 Palestinians , mostly women and children have been killed and an estimated 77,643 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
• The US said it opposed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation into Israel’s conduct in Gaza, amid reports that Israeli officials fear the Hague-based tribunal could soon issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and top Israeli military officials . Netanyahu reportedly asked US President Joe Biden  for help during a phone call . But the US is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and therefore is not in a position to influence its decisions