Hamas indicates 'positive spirit' as it studies Israel's latest peace proposal

GAZA STRIP — After months of negotiations, Hamas is offering hope that a cease-fire agreement with Israel could be near, while the threat of an Israeli incursion into the southern city of Rafah is looming. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said the militant group, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the UK and other Western countries, will "soon" dispatch a delegation to Egypt to complete ongoing cease-fire discussions with an agreement that "realizes the demands of our people."  Haniyeh, the leader of the militant group's political wing, spoke on the phone with Egyptian and Qatari negotiators Thursday, and he said that Hamas was looking at the latest proposal from Israel with a "positive spirit."  Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been leading efforts to broker a deal for a cease-fire in the nearly seven-month war between Israel and Hamas. CIA Director William Burns is visiting the Egyptian capital Cairo Friday for discussions about the conflict in Gaza, an Egyptian security source and three sources at Cairo airport said, according to Reuters. Israel's truce offer was described by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as "extraordinarily generous," and he urged Hamas to accept it. The proposed cease-fire being considered includes a 40-day pause of fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, according to details released by Britain.  Hamas is mulling Israel's proposed cease-fire proposal, while protesters in Israel demand their government negotiate the release of the remaining hostages. Israel has repeatedly warned it is planning to launch an assault against Hamas cells in the southern Gaza city where about a million displaced people are crowded together, having fled months of Israeli attacks on the enclave. "It could be a slaughter of civilians and an incredible blow to the humanitarian operation in the entire strip because it is run primarily out of Rafah," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office, or OCHA, at a Geneva press briefing. Among the aid operations in Rafah are medical clinics, warehouses stocked with humanitarian supplies, food distribution points and 50 centers for acutely malnourished children, Laerke said. Israel has promised to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians from Gaza's border city with Egypt. A World Health Organization official said at the same briefing that a plan for Rafah had been prepared, and it included a new field hospital. He underscored, however, it would not be enough to prevent a significant increase in the death toll in the event of an assault. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said via video link that he was "extremely concerned" that any incursion would close the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, a corridor currently being used to import medical supplies. At least 34,622 Palestinians have been killed and 77,867 have been injured during Israel's military offensive on Gaza since the beginning of the war, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement Friday. Israel's counteroffensive on Gaza was triggered by Hamas' October 7 terror attack in southern Israel. The attack killed approximately 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and the assailants abducted more than 230 people. An Israeli man held hostage in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack has been confirmed dead, according to the Israeli government on Friday and the kibbutz where he had lived. Dror Or, 49, is the latest hostage to have been confirmed dead by Israel after being abducted by Hamas.  "We are heartbroken to share that Dror Or, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, had been confirmed as murdered and his body is being held in Gaza," the Israeli government said on social media platform X. Or's wife Yonat was killed in the initial attack, and two of their three children, Noam and Alma, ages 17 and 13, were taken hostage and then freed in November as part of a cease-fire and hostages-for-prisoners swap deal between Israel and Hamas, where 105 hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners. Israel estimates that 35 hostages out of the 129 remaining in Gaza are dead. Meanwhile, the U.N. warned it will take decades to rebuild Gaza. "The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented ... this is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since World War II," Abdallah al-Dardari, the UNDP's Regional Director for Arab States told a briefing in Jordan.  The UNDP assessment predicted that it would take generations of Palestinians to rebuild Gaza's socio-economic infrastructure and called for an urgent ceasefire.  Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.