Hamas says it ‘responded positively’ to temporary ceasefire deal proposal with Israel
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(WASHINGTON) — Hamas announced it has submitted a “positive response” to the mediators about the current ceasefire and hostage exchange release proposal on the table.
How the proposal will be implemented will require another round of negotiations, according to the group.
“The movement is fully prepared to immediately enter into a round of negotiations regarding the mechanism for implementing this framework,” Hamas said.
The deal comes more than 20 months into the conflict — and more than three months after a previous deal ended.
Israel had expected a response from Hamas on the ceasefire and hostage deal by Friday, an Israeli official told ABC News.
Earlier this week, a Hamas adviser said the group was still studying the proposal.
“Hamas is open to any proposal that will end the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, but Hamas wants guarantees that Israel will commit to moving to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement after the first phase, which is set to last for 60 days,” said Taher Al-Nounou, media adviser to the head of Hamas.
What’s in the deal?
The revised temporary ceasefire deal on the table now deals with the release of more hostages by Hamas, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the matter.
The deal calls for the release of 10 living hostages from Hamas captivity and the return of 15 bodies of hostages being held by the terrorist group.
It is believed there are about 20 living hostages still being held by Hamas.
According to the terms of the proposal, the release of the 10 living hostages and 15 bodies will be staggered over the 60-day period the temporary ceasefire is in effect.
Under the terms of the deal, Hamas will not hold ceremonies for the hostage releases, as they did during a previous six-week ceasefire.
Discussion of a permanent ceasefire will take place during the 60-day period.
Even after Hamas responds to the proposal, there are still several issues that remain to be addressed, one of the sources said — including the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages.
In many rounds of negotiations, Hamas has sought a guaranteed end to the war in Gaza — but that remained a chief sticking point in recent negotiations and something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not agreed to budge on.
President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that Israel had agreed to conditions for the 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.
Trump said representatives from Qatar and Egypt would deliver the final proposal to Hamas, which came after a “long and productive meeting” between Trump officials and Israeli officials in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The latest deal comes after months of negotiations over a ceasefire led in part by U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.
In May, the White House submitted an Israeli-approved proposal for a 60-day ceasefire to Hamas, but the deal stalled.
At the time, Trump urged both Israel and Hamas to make a deal ahead of and during his first foreign policy trip of his second term in office to the Middle East. Ultimately, a deal was not reached, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ramped up attacks on Gaza after Trump left the region
In January, a six-week temporary ceasefire went into effect, resulting in the release of dozens of captives held by Hamas and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners.
However, that ceasefire ended on March 18 when Israel resumed military operations against Hamas in Gaza, with Israel citing the failure to release the remaining hostages and saying the military was targeting Hamas terrorists who posed a threat to Israeli troops and citizens.
The Israeli government also imposed a blockade on humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip on March 2 that lasted for 11 weeks and ended on May 19.
The Israel-Hamas war has taken a grim human toll. Since the war began, nearly 56,000 people in Gaza have been killed and more than 131,000 have been wounded, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel. Hundreds more were taken hostage. At least 20 living hostages are believed to still remain in Hamas captivity.
-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Nasser Atta contributed to this report.
(DAMASCUS, SYRIA) — He’s a former al-Qaeda insurgent who fought against U.S. forces in Iraq and served time in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Still, on Wednesday, new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa stood on the world stage shaking hands with President Donald Trump and achieving a major feat for his fledgling administration.
Trump announced he would lift the crippling U.S. sanctions against Syria and urged al-Sharaa to meet specified conditions in hopes that it will stabilize the country. These conditions include normalizing relations with Syria’s neighbors, including Israel, as well as the United States.
Syria’s civil war ended in December when al-Sharaa and a band of rebel fighters overthrew the government of strongman Bashar al-Assad. Since then, al-Sharaa has been working to form a new government, band together rival rebel groups inside Syria, quell infighting among former Assad-regime loyalists and establish a diplomatic presence on the world stage, ABC News has reported.
“There was always the potential that once a power vacuum was created, it would be filled by someone who was associated with one of the more extremist or terrorist related groups,” said John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security undersecretary of intelligence.
But Cohen, an ABC News contributor, said the United States has no choice but to engage with al-Sharaa, explaining that a stable Syria is vital to the entire Middle East region.
“We have to engage,” Cohen said. “There are other powers, like China and Russia, who would be more than happy to assert geopolitical control over the region. So, it’s in our interest not to have that occur.”
In a speech to his country after assuming the presidency, al-Sharaa spoke about uniting his country, saying that “together we can open a new chapter in the history of our beloved land.”
“From here, I address you today in my capacity as president of Syria in this fateful period, asking God to grant us all success so we can revive our homeland, and overcome the challenges that we are facing, and that will only be through all standing together in people and leadership,” al-Sharaa said in the January speech.
Al-Sharaa said he planned to form an inclusive government, “reflecting Syria’s diversity in its men, women and youth.” He also said he intends to build new Syrian institutions “so that we can reach a stage of free and impartial elections.”
“I address you today not as a ruler but as a servant for our wounded homeland, striving with all power and will I have been given to realize Syria’s unity and renaissance, as we should all understand that this is a transitional stage, and it is part of a political process that requires true participation by all Syrian men and women, inside and outside the country, so that we can build their future with freedom and dignity, without marginalization or sidelining,” he said.
Who is Ahmad al-Sharaa
The 42-year-old al-Sharaa was born in Saudi Arabia to a family that was originally from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. He grew up in Damascus, the capital of Syria, according to Thomas Warrick, an international lawyer and a former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for counterterrorism.
“He was a quiet boy, studious and very intelligent, according to all the reports we received about him when he was a terrorist leader,” said Warrick, now a nonresident senior fellow in Middle East programs for the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.
Unlike some terrorist leaders — including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the late leader of the Islamic State jihadist group, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the late al-Qaeda chief and accused plotter of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — al-Sharaa has not been known as a charismatic leader, said Warrick.
“He doesn’t attract fanatical followers in quite the same way that those terrorist leaders did, and he’s certainly not known as a religious scholar like Anwar al Awlaki of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was,” said Warrick, who has worked under the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and under Donald Trump during his first term in the White House.
As a young man, al-Sharaa joined al-Qaeda following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, said Warrick.
“Right after the invasion of Iraq, he fought for them. He said he was a foot soldier,” Warrick said.
After joining al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa adopted the name Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Warrick said, adding that the al-Jolani part of his pseudonym in Arabic means “of the Golan,” a reference to where his family originated.
While fighting for al-Qaeda in Iraq, al-Sharaa was captured by U.S. military forces and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib and other detention sites, according to Warrick.
Sometime after U.S. forces began to pull out of Iraq in 2007, al-Sharaa was released from prison and returned to Syria, Warrick said.
In Syria, al-Sharaa founded and led the al-Qaeda affiliate organization al-Nusrah Front, Warrick said.
Al-Sharaa later had a falling out with al-Baghdadi over the al-Qaeda leader’s decision to form an Islamic territorial caliphate, according to Warrick.
Al-Sharaa then rebranded the al-Nusrah Front as the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) during Syria’s civil war, setting up shop in Idlib in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border, Warrick said. HTS remains on the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.
“But there’s a very interesting history from then, partly because of ego, partly because he was ambitious, and he understood economics and how groups like his need to have economic support in order to have power,” Warrick said.
To generate revenue for his group, Warrick said al-Sharaa began “what would be considered either taxation or extortion” of trucks crossing from Turkey into Syria.
“He used taxation to raise money from businesses and anybody who wanted to either transit or stay,” Warrick said. “This is what enabled him to become one of the more effective warlords for that part of northwest Syria.”
Rise to the presidency
During the civil war in Syria, more than 1 million Syrians fled to Turkey, prompting that country’s president, Recep Erdogan, to ask al-Assad in mid-2024 for concessions to ease the refugee burden Turkey was experiencing, Warrick said. But a dispute between the two leaders developed when al-Assad refused Erdogan’s request, according to Warrick.
At the same time, al-Sharaa and other rebel groups opposed to the al-Assad regime came up with a plan to carry out a limited military offensive against the government’s forces. With support from Erdogan, according to Warrick, al-Sharaa’s organization and other rebel groups were able to overthrow the regime and oust al-Assad from power.
In 2018, Trump, during his first term in office, ordered U.S. missile strikes on al-Assad’s chemical weapons facilities and ISIS fighters in Syria. The United States also set up a military presence in Syria in early 2016 to train and advise Kurdish and Arab rebel forces fighting ISIS in northern and eastern parts of the country.
The U.S. intervention in Syria’s civil war, combined with missile strikes on the country by Israel, severely weakened al-Assad’s forces by the time al-Sharaa and his rebel group launched their attack in 2024 that would eventually topple the Assad regime.
“What nobody really appreciated was how brittle Assad’s forces were, and so this ‘limited effort’ began to become like an avalanche rolling downhill,” Warrick said. “It picked up momentum and led al-Sharaa eventually to taking over Damascus within a matter of weeks.”
Facing big challenges
The new Syrian leader will attempt to convince Western and European leaders that his days as a terrorist are behind him.
With Edogon and the Saudi Crown Prince helping pave his way, al-Sharaa, in just a matter of months, has garnered support and legitimacy from other leaders in the region, including the Emir of Qatar, whom he visited. Getting Trump to lift the sanctions is seen as a major achievement by the Syrian people.
But al-Sharaa has major challenges to face, the two biggest being asserting control over all of the Syrian territory, as well as the armed groups that helped him ascend to power.
In December, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that a meeting of the heads of the rebel groups and al-Sharaa “ended in an agreement on the dissolution of all the groups and their integration under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense.”
However, reports of human rights abuses allegedly carried out by some of the rebel forces during fighting with Assad loyalists have raised questions about the Syrian president’s control of these forces. He announced an investigation and vowed to hold accountable anyone responsible for violence against civilians.
After meeting with President Trump on Wednesday, al-Sharaa delivered a televised speech to his nation, saying Syria would no longer serve as an arena for foreign struggles, nor would it allow the resurgence of the old regime narrative that divided his country. He signaled that his country is interested in pivoting toward building international partnerships rooted in sovereignty and mutual interest.
During the speech, he invited Syrian investors abroad to return to the country and help it rebuild, saying, “Hope in modern Syria has become a tangible reality,” and he praised Trump’s decision to lift sanctions, calling it “historic and courageous.”
During Wednesday’s meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with al-Sharaa, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Erdogan, who phoned into the meeting, Trump urged al-Sharaa to take five specific actions, according to a readout of the meeting provided by the White House.
The conditions Trump laid out, according to the readout, include deporting Palestinian terrorists, ordering all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, helping the United States prevent a resurgence of ISIS, and signing the Abraham Accords — a series of agreements formed in 2020 to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab states.
Israel occupies a demilitarized buffer zone along the southern Syrian border, and Israeli officials have publicly accused al-Sharaa’s Islamist government of targeting the Druze, a minority religious group, south of Damascus.
On May 2, Israel bombed an area near the presidential palace in Damascus. In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said the strike was “a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.” Al-Sharaa’s government said the bombing marked “a dangerous escalation.”
Israel has been hitting Syria in multiple locations since al-Assad’s fall in December. Israeli forces have also moved past the demilitarized buffer zone and have publicly said they won’t leave the positions they’re in currently.
Al-Sharaa told Reuters he’s been having indirect talks with Israel to ease the violence. He says an investigation is underway in the Druze attack.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, who recently traveled to Syria and met with al-Sharaa, told ABC News this week, before Trump decided to lift sanctions, that it was the right move to help Syria recover.
“This is an important time to support a government that will not only respect human rights in the country, but respect women’s rights, religious rights,” Stutzman said.
Asked if he believed al-Sharaa is truly interested in uniting the Syrian people, Stutzman said, “I hope so, and we pray so, because of what the Syrian people have been through.”
“We traveled into the community of Jobar, where there was just billions and billions of dollars of destruction, homes and lives ruined by [Assad],” Stutzman said. “This was a political genocide. It wasn’t religious, it wasn’t racial, it was strictly political genocide.”
Stutzman added, “So, I think there’s a great opportunity. He’s talking to the right people and he’s saying the right thing. But obviously his actions are going to speak louder than words at the end of the day.”
‘Potentially transformative moment’
Mathieu Rouquette, country director for Syria for Mercy Corps, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization, said in a statement to ABC News that lifting the sanctions on Syria “marks a potentially transformative moment for millions of Syrians.”
“This decision, if successfully implemented, could enable broader recovery efforts, help revive markets, mobilize resources for the rehabilitation of heavily damaged or destroyed infrastructure and housing, and give Syrians a long-awaited opportunity to rebuild their lives with dignity,” Rouquette said.
But Rouquette said what matters most to the Syrian people is whether lifting the sanctions will bring meaningful improvements to their daily life, from access to critical infrastructure, jobs, food and clean water to functioning markets and services.
“For organizations like ours, the lifting of sanctions could remove long-standing operational barriers that have hampered recovery programming, aid delivery and local engagement,” Rouquette said. “With fewer restrictions on financial transactions and imports, we can more effectively support Syrians to restore livelihoods, revive small businesses, and strengthen local markets. This moment offers a real opportunity to shift from a heavy reliance on aid toward long-term resilience.”
Following Wednesday’s meeting, Trump complimented al-Sharaa while speaking with reporters on Air Force One on his way to Qatar, describing the Syrian leader as a “young, attractive, tough guy. Strong past, very strong past — fighter.” The president added that al-Sharaa has “got a real shot at pulling it together.”
In a speech he gave at an investment forum in Riyadh before leaving Saudi Arabia, Trump said he would call off the sanctions on Syria to “give them a chance at greatness.”
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani in Turkey and affirmed the United States’ support for sanctions relief to stabilize Syria, according to the White House. Rubio, the White House said, welcomed the Syrian government’s calls for peace with Israel, efforts to end Iran’s influence in Syria and commitment to ascertaining the fate of U.S. citizens missing or killed in Syria.
Rubio underscored to al-Shaibani the critical importance of protecting the human rights of all Syrians regardless of ethnicity or religion, the White House said.
(LONDON and DELHI) — An Air India airliner carrying 242 passengers and crew en route to the United Kingdom from India crashed shortly after takeoff in an area near the Ahmedabad airport, in India’s Gujarat state, local officials and the airline said.
“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 13:38 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft, the airline said in a statement posted on social media. “Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals.”
The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed in the Meghaninagar area near the airport, the Ahmedabad Police Commissioner said Thursday.
“We are aware of initial reports and are working to gather more information,” Boeing said in a statement.
The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane “fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter” immediately after it departed from the airport.
“Heavy black smoke was seen coming from the accident site,” the Directorate General said in the statement.
The Indian Civil Aviation Minister said he has “directed all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action,” to respond to the crash.
“Rescue teams have been mobilised, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site,” the minister added.
The local governor, Bhupendra Patel, spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the crash to coordinate their emergency response, officials said. Patel said he ordered a so-called “green corridor” for emergency vehicles to travel between the crash site and local hospitals.
Modi in a statement confirmed that he’d been in touch with local officials.
“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” he said in a statement on social media. “It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.”
“It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it,” he said in a statement on social media. “Have been in touch with Ministers and authorities who are working to assist those affected.”
The airline initially announced the crash in a statement on social media, saying the flight had been “involved in an incident,” adding that it was “ascertaining the details” of the incident.
The flight was scheduled to fly from Ahmedabad International Airport to London Gatwick Airport, according to FlightRadar24, a tracking site. It had been scheduled to depart at 9:50 a.m. local time, with a scheduled arrival time in London at 18:25 p.m. local time. Gatwick in a statement confirmed the planned arrival time.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the situation in Ahmedabad, adding that his “thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time.”
“The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” Starmer said in a statement.
The captain had 8,200 hours of experience and the copilot had 1,100 hours of flying experience, India’s Directorate General added.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Ellie Kaufman, Clara McMichael and Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — At least seven people were killed and 27 were injured across Ukraine overnight into Tuesday as Russia continued long-range attacks on multiple cities, local officials said.
Ukraine’s air force said it recorded 112 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, 75 of which were either shot down or neutralized in flight. The air force reported impacts in 11 locations across the country.
Most of the reported deaths were clustered in two northeastern regions of Ukraine, close to the front lines.
Three people were killed and 20 were injured by a Russian cluster rocket attack on the city of Sumy, local authorities said. At least five rockets landed in open areas of the city center, the Sumy Regional Administration said, including along a busy road filled with cars and morning commuters.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to social media that the “savage strike” was a “fully deliberate attack on civilians.”
Another three people were killed and six were injured in the Kharkiv region as a result of Russian shelling, the regional military administration said.
One person was killed and 13 were injured by Russian fire in the southern Kherson region, said Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the local military administration.
Five people were also injured by strikes in the northern city of Chernihiv and five others in the southern Black Sea coast city of Odesa, according to officials there.
In his Tuesday morning message, Zelenskyy said the ongoing Russian attacks indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no genuine interest in peace, despite the Kremlin’s participation in ongoing U.S.-brokered talks to end its 3-year-old invasion.
Ukrainian and Russian representatives met in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday for a second round of direct negotiations, the two sides having previously gathered in the city for the first round in May. That meeting allowed the first face-to-face peace talks between the two sides since the spring of 2022.
“It is obvious: without global pressure — without decisive actions from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who has the power — Putin will not agree even to a ceasefire,” Zelenskyy wrote on Tuesday.
“Not a single day goes by without Russia striking Ukrainian cities and villages,” the president continued.
“Every day, we lose our people to Russian terror. Every day, Russia gives new reasons for tougher sanctions and stronger support for our defense. I am grateful to everyone around the world who is promoting exactly this agenda: sanctions for aggression and the killing of people, and assistance in defending the lives of Ukrainians.”
Ukraine continued its own long-range strike campaign into Russia overnight. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said its forces downed eight Ukrainian drones on Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Monday’s Istanbul talks were held despite Ukraine’s audacious covert operation targeting Russian strategic bombers on Sunday, in which drones concealed in the back of trucks attacked at least five airfields deep inside Russian territory.
Zelenskyy told ABC News’ Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz that the attack was a “strategic operation” that “is definitely reducing Russia’s potential, and demonstrates that Ukraine is working on certain steps.”
“Unless they will stop, we will continue,” he said.
Asked whether he was satisfied with President Donald Trump’s administration’s involvement, Zelenskyy told Raddatz, “We are looking for very strong steps on the part of President Trump to support the sanctions and to force President Putin to stop this war, or at least proceed with the first stage of putting an end to this war — that is the ceasefire.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Oleksiy Pshemyskiy contributed to this report.
