Hamas won't agree to Gaza deal unless Israel agrees to permanent truce

GAZA, June 05 (Reuters/BBC/AP): A response from Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel's ceasefire proposal that US President Joe Biden revealed on Friday is still being awaited, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday.
"We are waiting for a response from Hamas" through the Qatari mediators, Sullivan said.
CIA Director Bill Burns will be in Doha to consult with Qatari mediators on the Gaza ceasefire proposal, Sullivan added. Qatar has been mediating on Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
Qatar said on Tuesday it had delivered the Israeli ceasefire proposal to Hamas that reflected a three-phase proposal presented by Biden, and that the paper was now much closer to the positions of both sides.
A spokesman for Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, reiterated on Tuesday it could not agree to any deal unless Israel makes a "clear" commitment to a permanent truce and complete withdrawal from Gaza.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also repeated that there can be no permanent peace unless Hamas is eradicated, as he struggles with profound political divisions at home over the US-backed truce proposal.
Israel's assault on Gaza has killed more than 36,000, according to the local health ministry, caused widespread hunger, flattened most of the enclave and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.
The Israeli onslaught followed an attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct 7 that killed 1,200 with 250 people also taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli troops launch attacks
in central Gaza
The Israeli military said it has started "operational activity" in two areas of central Gaza in a possible broadening of its monthslong ground offensive against Hamas.
The military said Wednesday its forces were operating "both above and below ground" in eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. It said the operation began with airstrikes on militant infrastructure, after which troops began a "targeted daylight operation" in both areas.
The eight-month offensive has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians who are facing widespread hunger. International mediators wait for Israel and Hamas to respond to a new cease-fire and hostage release proposal, according to Qatar, which has played a key role in negotiations alongside Egypt and the United States.
Announcing the proposal last week, U.S. President Joe Biden said the three-phase plan was Israeli. However, Israeli leaders have since appeared to distance themselves from the proposal and vowed to keep fighting Hamas until the group is destroyed.
Mass graves, body bags found after Israel withdrew forces from al-Shifa hospital
After Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza City's vast al-Shifa hospital complex on 1 April, following their second raid there, stunned Palestinians who pored over the burnt-out ruins said it reeked of death.
During the past eight months of war, hospitals have come under repeated attack, with Israel claiming they are used as bases by Hamas; something the group denies.
But events at al-Shifa - once the biggest and best equipped medical facility in the Gaza Strip - have arguably been the most dramatic.
The two-week surprise raid, launched after Israel said Hamas had regrouped at the site, was described by the Israeli government as "precise and surgical".
Its spokesman, Avi Hyman, asserted that it had set "the gold standard of urban warfare". He said: "We took out over 200 terrorists. We apprehended over 900 terrorists with not a single civilian casualty."