By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel has proposed a cease-fire of up to two months in exchange for the release of all the more than 130 hostages still held by Hamas, several officials confirmed.
If Hamas agrees, it would mean the most extended truce since the group sparked the war on October 7 when it entered Israel to kill up to 1,200 people while taking some 250 hostages.
Israel’s ceasefire proposal, communicated to Hamas through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, came after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government survived a no-confidence vote.
The vote was filed in protest at the “failure” to secure the return of the Israeli hostages.
Sunday’s motion received only 18 votes, failing to obtain the necessary majority in the 120-strong Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
The vote was boycotted by the coalition, the heads of which said they would “not take part in political shows during wartime.”
Hours before the vote, relatives of those held had stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem. They demanded that legislators and the government do more to free their loved ones kidnapped on October 7.
LATEST CEASEFIRE
It was not immediately clear whether Netanyahu’s latest ceasefire attempt would be enough to bring the hostages home.
Yet observers point out that during a week-long lull in fighting at the end of November, Hamas freed hostages every day, and Israel released Palestinian prisoners.
Israel says there are still more than 130 hostages in the Gaza Strip, though several dozen of them, including a baby, may have already died, sources said.
Israeli officials said they are “now waiting for a response from Hamas.”
In addition to the release of all remaining hostages, Netanyahu’s plan also involves the return of the bodies of dead hostages.
In the first phase, women, men over 60, and hostages in critical medical condition would be released, according to Israeli officials with knowledge about the plan.
This will be followed by the release of female soldiers, men under the age of 60 who are not soldiers, Israeli male soldiers, and the return of the bodies of deceased hostages.
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS
Israel and Hamas would also agree on how many Palestinian prisoners could be released for each Israeli hostage.
Further negotiations will then decide which prisoners. Israel will “certainly not let go of all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners,” officials warned.
Israel has come under mounting international pressure, however, to end the clashes and accept a Palestinian state as a compromise.
Netanyahu has ruled out such a scenario, saying a two-state solution threatens the security of Israel. However, Israel’s foreign ministry denied Sunday that its foreign minister, Israel Katz, suggested that Palestinians could be housed on an artificial island in the Mediterranean.
Katz allegedly unveiled the plan during his presentation to his EU counterparts in Brussels, Belgium.
It is understood that Katz presented a video on the concept to the 27 EU foreign ministers as an alternative to the two-state solution, prompting dismay among EU foreign ministers.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, accused Katz of not properly engaging with the summit in Brussels designed to pave the way for a peace plan in the Middle East.
ARTIFICIAL ISLAND
Borrell told reporters Katz had come to the meeting to present plans for an artificial island off the coast of Gaza and a railway to India, adding: “I think the minister could have made better use of his time to worry about the security of his country and the high number of deaths in the Middle East and the high death toll in Gaza.”
Back in Gaza, at least 50 Palestinians were killed and 100 injured in Israeli military strikes on Khan Younis since Sunday night, with many still beneath the rubble, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
A total of 25,295 Palestinians have been killed and 63,000 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run health ministry said Monday.
However, Hamas has declined to say how many fighters are among the dead.
The Israel Defense Forces claim about 9,000 “Hamas terrorists” killed since the start of the war, including about 1,000 during the October 7 attack in Israel.
The U.S. estimates that Hamas has between 25,000 to 30,000 members, a more conservative estimate than Israel’s, which pegs the fighting force at 30,000 or more.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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