Netanyahu Offers Hamas Leaders Gaza Exit But Demands Group Disarm

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms, as his country kept up its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike on a house and tent sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least eight people, including five children.

The strike in Khan Yunis came in the morning on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Israel resumed intense bombing of the Palestinian territory on March 18 and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas.

Netanyahu rejected criticism that his government was not engaging in negotiations aimed at releasing hostages held in Gaza, insisting the renewed military pressure on Hamas was proving effective.

"We are negotiating under fire... We can see cracks beginning to appear" in Hamas's positions, the Israeli leader told a cabinet meeting.

In the "final stage", Netanyahu said that "Hamas will lay down its weapons. Its leaders will be allowed to leave".

"The military pressure is working," he said.

"The combination of military pressure and diplomatic pressure is the only thing that has brought the hostages back."

Hamas has expressed a willingness to relinquish Gaza's administration, but has warned its weapons are a "red line".

Egypt, Qatar and the United States are attempting to again broker a ceasefire and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

A senior Hamas official stated on Saturday that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators and urged Israel to support it.

Netanyahu's office confirmed receipt of the proposal and stated that Israel had submitted a counterproposal in response.

However, the details of the latest mediation efforts remain undisclosed.

Gaza medics and witnesses reported that Israeli air strikes continued in Khan Yunis and some other parts of Gaza throughout the day.

An air strike in the southern city of Rafah wounded two children, according to medics.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it recovered the bodies of 14 rescuers killed a week ago in Israeli military fire on the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Gaza's southern city of Rafa.

Netanyahu said Israel was working towards a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to displace Gazans to other countries.

The premier said that after the war, Israel would ensure overall security in Gaza and "enable the implementation of the Trump plan" -- which had initially called for the mass displacement of all 2.4 million people living in the Palestinian territory -- calling it a "voluntary migration plan".

Trump proposed that Gazans be removed from the territory that would then be owned by the United States and redeveloped, with no right of return for the Palestinians.

He later said he was "not forcing" the widely condemned plan but would "sit back and recommend it".

Since the fighting restarted, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 921 people have been killed, in figures issued on Saturday.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign against has killed at least 50,277 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.

The resumption of the war has also prompted the Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen to resume launching missiles and drones at Israel.

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen "prior to crossing into Israeli territory".

The Huthis say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians, and have also attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on the same basis.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's office said he would visit Hungary on April 2 for a multi-day trip in defiance of an arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban publicly extended an invitation to Netanyahu in November shortly after the ICC issued the warrant.