Israel rejects Hamas changes to ceasefire proposal, but sends delegation to Qatar for talks

CAIRO – 6 July 2025: Israel said it rejects Hamas changes to the recent proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza but said a negotiating team will still travel to Doha on Sunday for talks over a possible deal that brings their captives back.

"The changes that Hamas seeks to make to the Qatari proposal were conveyed to us last night and are not acceptable to Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement late on Saturday.

The office called for “proximity talks be accepted and that the contacts for the return of our hostages – on the basis of the Qatari proposal that Israel has agreed to – be continued.”

Egypt, Qatar and the US have intensified their mediating efforts to communicate a recent 60-day ceasefire proposal to Israel and Hamas.

US President Donald Trump said Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to reach the deal, while Hamas on Friday said they have submitted “a positive response” to end the Israeli aggression against people in Gaza.

Trump welcomed Hamas response to the proposal as “good” and suggested a deal can be reached this week. Last week he urged Hamas to accept the proposal “because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”

Mass Killing Continues

Despite growing hope for a possible ceasefire soon, Israeli forces continue to kill dozens of Palestinians in Gaza every day, including humanitarian aid seekers, besides displacing the entire population and leaving the enclave on brink of famine.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, Israel has killed over 57,300 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the enclave on Saturday.

Of this total, 6,780 Palestinians have been killed since Israeli forces in March shattered a ceasefire brokered by mediators that led to the release of dozens of Israeli captives and allowed thousands of aid trucks to access the enclave.

Deaths include nearly 600 humanitarian aid seekers near the distribution centers of the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American newly-established organization backed by Israel and which Hamas has called “death traps.”

Israel has also inured nearly 136,000 people in airstrikes and gunfire since the start of the war.