ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Hamas on Monday announced that they had agreed to ceasefire terms brokered by Qatar and Egypt, with Israeli media reporting that the proposal is an updated version of an earlier proposal by US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.

“Hamas and the Palestinian factions have announced their approval of the proposal presented to them yesterday by the Egyptian and Qatari mediators,” said the Gaza-based militant group in a press release.

"The movement has submitted its response, agreeing to the mediators' new proposal,” said senior Hamas official Bassem Naim in a separate announcement on Facebook. “We pray to God to extinguish the fire of this war on our people."

Shortly after reports broke out that the self-proclaimed Islamic resistance group had accepted the proposal, several Israeli media outlets noted that the ceasefire closely mirrors a previous set of terms put forward by Witkoff. The terms Hamas agreed to “matches 98 percent with the Witkoff proposal that Israel previously agreed to,” said Channel 12, citing a diplomatic source.

The new agreement postulates that 10 live hostages and 18 deceased bodies be released in exchange for “a 60-day ceasefire and a gradual withdrawal of the IDF [Israeli military] from Gaza,” with negotiations around a permanent settlement under “US guarantees” being carried out during the truce period, according to Israeli outlets.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Monday lashed out at the prospect of a ceasefire being reached, saying that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "surrenders to Hamas and stops the war, it will be a tragedy for generations and a huge missed opportunity," according to Israel’s Channel 12.

"We have a chance now to defeat Hamas, and I tell the prime minister, you do not have a mandate to go for a partial deal and not defeat Hamas," the Israeli state-owned outlet quoted the minister as saying.

The two warring sides came to a ceasefire in January, which was subsequently breached on March 18 after Israeli airstrikes targeted the Gaza Strip, citing “Hamas' repeated refusal to release our hostages.” The operation killed over 400 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, sparking condemnations from several regional countries.

Israel launched an extensive retaliatory campaign in Gaza after Hamas carried out a surprise attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, in which the militant group killed at least 1139 and took more than 200 captives.

Israel has killed over 62,000 people in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack to date, over 10,000 of whom have been killed after the previous ceasefire was breached on March 18.