Egypt has put forward an ambitious suggestion to end the Israel-Gaza war, proposing a ceasefire, a phased hostage release, and the creation of a Palestinian government of experts who would administer the Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The proposal, according to a a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat on Monday, has been worked out with mediator Qatar.

It has also been presented to Israel, Hamas, and the US but still appeared preliminary.

The proposal calls for an initial two-week ceasefire where Hamas would release 40-50 hostages, Associated Press said. 

This would be in return for the release of 120-150 Palestinians from Israeli prisons, the Egyptian official said.

The releases would occur amid ongoing negotiations to extend the ceasefire and release further hostages, the official added.

The proposal falls short of Israel’s aim to crush Hamas and oversee military control in Gaza for an extended period after the war.

Israel’s War Cabinet, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will meet later Monday discuss the hostage situation, an Israeli official said.

They did not say if it would discuss the Egyptian proposal.

The Egyptian official said Egypt and Qatar would also work with all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, to agree on the establishment of a government of experts.

That government would rule Gaza and the West Bank for a transitional period as Palestinian factions agree on a road map to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, he added.

Egyptian officials discussed the outlined proposal with Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh last week.

There is also a plan to discuss it with the leader of the Islamic Jihad group, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who also took part in the October 7 terrorist attacks into southern Israel, Associated Press reported. 

A Western diplomat told Associated Press they are aware of Egypt’s proposal.

Here’s what else is going on:

• At least 78 people in central Gaza and the Al-Bureij region have been killed by strikes, according to the Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Israel is yet to comment.

• Palestinians reported heavy bombardment and gunfire in the refugee camp of Jabaliya. The Israeli military said it had completed dismantling Hamas’s underground headquarters

• Pope Francis has used his Christmas message to say children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the “little Jesuses of today” and that Israeli strikes were reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians

The latest photos from the Israel-Gaza war

These photos were all taken on December 24, 2023. 

Pope condemns ‘appalling harvest’ of innocent civilians 

Pope Francis said in his Christmas message on Monday that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the “little Jesuses of today” and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians.

In his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) address, Pope Francis also called the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants “abominable” and again appealed for the release of around 100 hostages still being held in Gaza.

Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to thousands of people in the square below, he took another swipe at the armaments industry, saying it ultimately controlled the “puppet-strings of war”.

The 87-year-old Francis, celebrating the 11th Christmas of his pontificate, called for an end to conflicts, political, social or military, in places including Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and he defended the rights of migrants around the world.

“How many innocents are being slaughtered in our world! In their mothers’ wombs, in odysseys undertaken in desperation and in search of hope, in the lives of all those little ones whose childhood has been devastated by war. They are the little Jesuses of today,” he said.

He gave particular attention to the Holy Land, including Gaza.

“May it (peace) come in Israel and Palestine, where war is devastating the lives of those peoples. I embrace them all, particularly the Christian communities of Gaza and the entire Holy Land,” he said.

The Vatican, which has diplomatic relations with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, believes a two-state solution is the only answer to the long-running conflict.

Pope Francis called for “persevering dialogue between the parties, sustained by strong political will and the support of the international community”.

AP/Reuters