🔴 Live: Hamas will deal ‘positively’ with any ceasefire deal based on war’s total halt

Israeli army tanks deploy in an area of Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip on June 5, 2024. © Jack Guez, AFP

Hamas will deal “seriously and positively” with any ceasefire agreement that is based on the total halt of war, complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and an Israeli hostages-Palestinian prisoners swap deal, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement on Wednesday. Israel earlier repeated its refusal to halt the Gaza offensive for a resumption of hostage-release talks with the Palestinian militant group. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments.

Summary:

• Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu toured the country's northern border with Lebanon on Wednesday and said that Israel was prepared for strong action in the north.

• Israel is phasing out the use of a military-run detention camp for Palestinians captured during the Gaza war where rights groups alleged there has been abuse of inmates, justice officials said on Wednesday.

• Israel announced a new military campaign against Hamas in central Gaza on Wednesday and Palestinian medics said air strikes there had killed dozens of people ahead of talks between US and Qatari mediators to try to finalise a ceasefire deal.

• US President Joe Biden swiped at Binyamin Netanyahu in an interview with Time magazine published Tuesday, saying there was "every reason" to conclude the Israeli prime minister was dragging out the Gaza war to save himself politically.

• At least 36,586 Palestinians have been killed and 83,074 wounded in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, with about 120 remaining in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Many have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.

Yesterday's key developments:

• An independent group of experts warned Tuesday that it's possible that famine is underway in northern Gaza but that the war between Israel and Hamas and restrictions on humanitarian access have impeded the data collection to prove it. "It is possible, if not likely,” the group known as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, or FEWS NET, said about famine in Gaza.

• Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan accused Israel on Tuesday of prolonging truce negotiations and repeated the Palestinian militant group's position which rejects any deal that excludes a permanent ceasefire.

• French President Emmanuel Macron called on Hamas on Tuesday to accept the ceasefire agreement put on the table by his US counterpart Joe Biden, saying that the Palestinian militant group bore a “crushing” responsibility.

• Mediator Qatar said Tuesday it was waiting for a "clear position" from Israel on a proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden. "We have yet to see a very clear position from the Israeli government towards the principles laid out by Biden," foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said, adding there had been no "concrete approval" from either side.

• Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages are dead, a government tally showed on Tuesday, as the United States sought to advance their recovery under a proposal to wind down the war with Hamas.

• Israeli authorities were battling intense forest fires Tuesday in the north of the country that broke out shortly after rocket and drone strikes from neighbouring Lebanon, forcing the partial evacuation of one town.

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)