• The Egyptian proposal envisages ‘safe passage’ for the fighters still in Gaza’s ‘Israeli zone’
• Israeli forces kill teenager in occupied West Bank

CAIRO: Hamas fighters holed up in the Israeli-held Rafah area of Gaza would surrender their arms in exchange for passage to other areas of the enclave under a proposal to resolve an issue seen as a risk to the month-old truce, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Since the US-brokered ceasefire took effect in Gaza on Oct 10, the Rafah area has been the scene of two attacks on Israeli forces. Hamas has denied responsibility.

Egyptian mediators have proposed that, in exchange for safe passage, fighters still in Rafah surrender their arms to Egypt and give “details of tunnels” there so they can be destroyed, an Egyptian security official said.

Israel and Hamas have yet to accept mediators’ proposals, the sources said. They confirmed that talks on the issue were underway.

The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the accounts; Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, declined to comment.

The attacks in Rafah left three Israeli soldiers dead. Subsequent Israeli strikes killed an unspecified number of Palestinians.

‘Unaware’ of ceasefire

The sources said the Hamas fighters in Rafah, which the group’s armed wing has said have been out of contact since March, might be unaware that a ceasefire was in place.

The ceasefire is the first part of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza conflict.

Hamas has released the last 20 living Israeli prisoners seized in the Oct 7, 2023, raid in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners; Israeli troops have withdrawn from western areas of Gaza, where Hamas remains in control.

Details of the next phase of Trump’s plan, which requires Hamas to disarm and give up control of Gaza, have yet to be agreed. The plan foresees Gaza being governed by a technocratic Palestinian committee with international supervision, and the deployment of an international force.

Since the ceasefire, Hamas has handed over the bodies of 22 of 28 deceased prisoners. Hamas has said the devastation in Gaza has made locating the bodies difficult. Israel has released to Gaza the bodies of 285 Palestinians.

Israeli forces kill teenager

The Palestinian health ministry said on Thursday that Israeli troops shot dead a teenager in the occupied West Bank.

The Ramallah-based ministry identified the 15-year-old as Murad Saifin, who had been killed late on Wednesday.

The ministry said the incident took place in the town of Al Yamun, west of Jenin.

Late on Wednesday the Israeli military said its troops had killed a militant in the area of Al Yamun.

In a separate incident, the Palestinian Authority reported the death of an elderly woman from a heart attack when Israeli forces raided her home on Thursday.

The PA’s media office identified the woman as Haniya Hanoun, and said she was pushed around by soldiers who had come to arrest her grandson in their home near Ramallah.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the conflict in Gaza broke out in Oct 2023.

One thousand Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territory by Israeli forces or settlers over the last two years.

During the same period, 43 Israelis have been killed in occupied West Bank.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2025