(JTA) — Hamas proposed its own 10-point plan for a cease-fire in hostilities with Israel.
Versions of the Hamas plan, which includes U.N.-supervised border crossings and the release of prisoners, appeared Tuesday and Wednesday in Maariv, an Israeli newspaper, and “Arabs Now,” a Palestinian-focused news website. Maariv quoted a “senior Palestinian source.”
Hamas rejected a cease-fire proposal from Egypt that was to go into effect Tuesday morning.
Both reports said Hamas proposed an end to hostilities, including a pullback of Israeli tanks; lifting the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip; opening air, sea and land entries to Gaza under the auspices of the United Nations and other countries; and the release of prisoners detained in last month’s sweeping West Bank search for the kidnappers and murderers of three Israeli teenagers.
Arabs Now reported that Hamas also was proposing a 10-year “tahdiya,” a tamping down of hostilities that stops short of a full truce.
The Egyptian proposal included an immediate end to hostilities, with issues to be negotiated in Egypt in its aftermath. Israel had accepted the plan but resumed its operation after six hours when Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel.
The Times of Israel reported Wednesday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was proposing P.A. supervision of the Gaza-Egypt crossing at Rafah, and that Israel does not oppose the idea.
Israel began launching airstrikes on July 8 after an intensification of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
Relief agencies say that approximately 200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in airstrikes on what Israel has said are military targets. Four children were killed Wednesday in a strike on Gaza City’s port.
One Israeli has been killed by rocket fire from Gaza, which has targeted civilian areas.
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