Netanyahu: “Hamas is under immense pressure.”By Reuters and Algemeiner StaffHamas has accepted the latest proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages the terrorist group holds in Gaza and Israel‘s release of some Palestinian prisoners, an Egyptian official source said on Monday.Senior Hamas official Basem Naim wrote on Facebook: “The movement has handed over its approval to the new proposal presented by the mediators.”Israeli media quoted Israeli sources as saying the Hamas response had been received.There was no official response from Israel, but in a video from his office Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I, like you, hear the reports in the media, and from them you can get one impression – Hamas is under immense pressure.”The Egyptian official source said the latest proposal included a suspension of Israeli military operations for 60 days and a path to a comprehensive deal to end the nearly two-year war.A source familiar with the matter said the proposal was nearly identical to one put forward previously by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel had accepted.The mediators met Hamas representatives in Cairo on Sunday, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister, joined the discussions on Monday and met both Egyptian President el-Sisi and Hamas representatives, said an official briefed on the meetings.Israel‘s plans to seize control of Gaza City have stirred alarm abroad and at home where tens of thousands of Israelis on Sunday held some of the largest protests since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held in Gaza since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Israeli officials believe 20 are alive.In an apparent show of force late on Monday, Israeli tanks advanced into the Sabra neighbourhood in the heart of Gaza City, according to witnesses who counted the presence of at least nine tanks and bulldozers.Israel approved the plan to take control of Gaza City earlier this month, but officials had said it could take weeks to start, leaving the door open for a ceasefire, even though Netanyahu had said it would get under way “fairly quickly” and end the war with Hamas’s defeat.The planned offensive has spurred Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire mediators to step up efforts to forge a deal.Thousands of Palestinians fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south in the shattered territory.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Gaza City as Hamas‘s last big urban bastion. But, with Israel already holding 75 percent of Gaza, the military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger hostages still alive and draw troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare.Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on Oct. 7, said he feared the consequences of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City. “I’m scared that my son would be hurt,” he told Reuters in Tel Aviv on Monday.In Gaza City, many Palestinians have also been calling for protests to demand an end to a war that has demolished much of the territory, and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive.An Israeli armored incursion into Gaza City could displace hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been uprooted multiple times during the war.Ahmed Mheisen, Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, said 995 families had departed the area in recent days for the south.A protest by unions is scheduled for Thursday in Gaza City, and people took to social media platforms vowing to participate, which will raise pressure on Hamas.The last round of indirect ceasefire talks ended in deadlock in late July with the sides trading blame for its collapse. Israel and the US both recalled their negotiators from the talks in Qatar, with Witkoff saying at the time that Hamas had not been acting in good faith and “clearly shows a lack of desire” to reach a deal.Israel says it will agree to cease hostilities if all the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its arms – the latter demand publicly rejected by the Islamist group until a Palestinian state is established.A Hamas official told Reuters earlier on Monday the terrorist group rejects Israeli demands to disarm or expel its leaders from Gaza.Sharp differences also appear to remain over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and how humanitarian aid will be delivered around the enclave.US President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform on Monday: “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be.”On Saturday, the Israeli military said it was preparing to help equip Gazans with tents and other shelter equipment ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave. It did not provide further details on quantities or how long it would take to get the equipment into the enclave.The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing power in the enclave.[donate]The post Hamas accepts proposed deal for ceasefire with Israel and hostage release, Egyptian source says appeared first on World Israel News.