Signs of renewed activity emerge in Gaza truce quest

JERUSALEM/GAZA — Signs of renewed activity emerged in the quest for a cease-fire deal for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

After weeks with little public diplomacy, mediators Egypt and Qatar delivered a response from Hamas to a proposal that would include the release of hostages held in Gaza and a cease-fire in the enclave.

Israel is studying the document, said a statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on behalf of the Mossad spy agency.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying for months to secure a truce and the release of 120 remaining hostages in Gaza, but their efforts have repeatedly failed.

Hamas said any deal must end the conflict and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel said it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas is eradicated.

Hamas said in a statement that its leader Ismail Haniyeh had calls with Qatari and Egyptian mediators around ideas to reach a deal to end the conflict in Gaza as well as communication with Turkish officials.

The New York Times reported that Israel's top generals want a Gaza cease-fire even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being, widening a rift between the military and Netanyahu, who has opposed a truce that would let Hamas survive.

Also on Wednesday, Israeli authorities approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers of land in the occupied West Bank, marking the largest single appropriation in about three decades, an Israeli settlement monitor group said on Wednesday.

Peace Now, an Israel-based settlement watchdog, said in a statement that the Custodian of the State's Property in the Civil Administration, an Israeli body that approves construction in the West Bank, recently declared the seizure of this large land in the Jordan Valley.

According to the group, this is the largest area designated for appropriation since the Oslo Accords, a set of peace agreements signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993.

This year, about 23.7 sq km of West Bank land have been declared "State Land" by Israel, Peace Now said.

The move is likely to stoke further tensions in the region, which is already experiencing increasing violence in the Gaza Strip.

Xinhua - Agencies