'Ball is now in Israel, America’s court': Hamas agrees to release five hostages for Eid al-Fitr

Hamas has reportedly agreed to release five hostages in return for a ceasefire during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, according to Egyptian officials speaking to the Qatari news outlet, The New Arab.

“The ball is now in the Israeli government and Americans’ court,” the officials stated, suggesting the next move lies with Israel and the United States.

As part of the proposed deal, US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander is expected to be among those freed. Both the United States and Qatar are said to be playing active roles in pushing the agreement forward.

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Eid al-Fitr is set to begin on Sunday and conclude on Wednesday.

Earlier, sources familiar with the talks told Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar that Egypt’s proposal includes a temporary ceasefire of around 50 days. In exchange, five Israeli hostages would be released, along with a number of Palestinian prisoners. The arrangement would also see the establishment of a mechanism to allow more humanitarian aid, such as food, medicine, and other essential supplies, to enter Gaza.

IDF admits mistakenly firing on ambulances in Rafah

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has admitted that its forces mistakenly fired on ambulances and fire trucks in Rafah, southern Gaza, during an operation last Sunday that targeted and killed several Hamas operatives.

The incident occurred in the Tel Sultan area, where Hamas officials claim at least one rescue worker lost their life.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), troops initially targeted Hamas vehicles, eliminating several militants. “A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops… The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists,” the IDF said in a statement.

However, a preliminary investigation revealed that “some of the suspicious vehicles… were ambulances and fire trucks.”

The military condemned what it called the repeated use of emergency vehicles by “terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip” for militant activities. It did not confirm whether any of those vehicles had been firing at Israeli forces.

On Friday, Hamas's civil defence service reported that the remains of the team leader and the damaged vehicles, an ambulance and a fire truck, had been recovered. They added that a vehicle belonging to the Palestine Red Crescent Society had also been destroyed, describing it as “reduced to a pile of scrap metal.”

(With inputs from agencies)