GAZA/JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH - Hamas said on Monday that it is engaging positively with mediators and responding to their proposals aimed at halting the ongoing hostilities in Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said in a press statement that "efforts, discussions, and deliberations with the mediators are continuing to address and overcome obstacles" to restoring calm in the Gaza Strip.

Taha pointed out that the Israeli government's behavior "demonstrates a lack of respect for the efforts and endeavors of the mediators, who are making great efforts to reach a cessation of aggression".

Earlier on Monday, two informed Egyptian security sources told Xinhua that Egypt on Sunday night presented a new "urgent" proposal to Israel and Hamas aimed at "ending the war and resuming negotiations on the second stage of the preliminary ceasefire deal".

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According to the new proposal, "Hamas will release five living Israeli hostages, including an Israeli-American soldier, in return for a ceasefire in the strip for 40 days to pave the way for talks on the second stage," revealed the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hamas immediately agreed to Egypt's new proposal, the sources noted, without specifying whether the Israeli side has delivered a response.

Israel ended a two-month ceasefire with Hamas on Tuesday by resuming air and ground attacks in the Palestinian enclave, which have so far killed more than 730 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel mistakenly strikes Red Cross building

The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that it mistakenly struck a building belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza due to misidentification.

Israeli military forces operating in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, fired at the building after "identifying suspects inside who they perceived as a threat", a military statement said.

A subsequent inspection revealed the identification was incorrect, and the troops "were unaware of the building's affiliation" with the ICRC at the time of the shooting, the statement said.

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Earlier on Monday, the ICRC said in a statement that its office in Rafah "was damaged by an explosive projectile despite being clearly marked and notified to all parties".

"Fortunately, no staff were injured in this incident, but this has a direct impact on the ICRC's ability to operate. The ICRC strongly decries the attack against its premises," said the ICRC, which runs a field hospital in Rafah and other facilities in the Palestinian enclave to treat mass casualties from Israeli strikes.

In the statement, the ICRC also said that it lost contact on Sunday with emergency medical technicians from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and that humanitarian workers in Gaza were killed and injured last week.

2 Palestinian reporters killed

The Israeli army killed two Palestinian journalists in two separate attacks in the Gaza Strip on Monday, said Palestinian sources.

Mohammad Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, was killed along with his wife and children in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his apartment in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, the unnamed sources said.

In another attack, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike east of Jabalia, northern Gaza, the sources added.

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The Hamas-run Gaza media office "condemned in the strongest terms the targeting and killing of journalists by the Israeli occupation" in a statement, calling on the international community to denounce "these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in Gaza".

The Israeli army has not issued any official comment on the two attacks.

With the deaths of Mansour and Shabat, the number of journalists killed since the start of the Gaza war on Oct 7, 2023 has risen to 208, according to figures from the media office.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it follows "with serious concern" the expansion of the ongoing Israeli ground invasion of Gaza, warning of the mobilization of more Israeli forces and military equipment near the enclave for the war.

In a statement on Monday, the ministry said the escalation coincides with the closure of crossings, the blockade of aid, and the targeting of civilians.

Hostages’ appeal

Hamas on Monday published a video of two Israeli hostages held in Gaza, in which the captives urged the Israeli government to halt its military operations, warning that continued attacks put their lives at risk.

The video, released by Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades on Telegram, showed the captives identifying themselves only as "prisoner number 21" and "prisoner number 22".

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They claimed their appeal was voluntary and not part of psychological warfare. One detainee recounted the food shortages before the Jan 19 ceasefire and noted that just as conditions were improving during the truce, Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, which dealt them a "severe blow".

Both detainees warned that ongoing Israeli attacks could lead to their deaths and criticized the government's handling of the situation.

They also called on previously released detainees to publicly share their experiences during captivity.

The Israeli government has not issued an official response, while military operations in Gaza continue amid international mediation efforts.

Israel says intercepted rocket from Gaza

Militants in Gaza fired a rocket toward southern Israel on Monday night, Israel's military said, the second such attack of the day.

The rocket triggered sirens in the southern city of Sderot and "was successfully intercepted by the Air Force", the military added.

Earlier on Monday evening, two rockets fired from Gaza toward southern Israeli communities were intercepted. The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for the earlier attack.

EU supports rebuilding Gaza under Palestinian Authority

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said here Monday that the EU supports the Gaza reconstruction plan approved by an emergency Arab summit earlier this month.

During a press conference after her meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, Kallas said that she "discussed with the prime minister the Arab plan for Gaza, which the EU strongly supports," and that the EU "will have a role in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip".

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The EU believes that "the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza", and will "provide support to the Palestinian government to assist it in assuming its duties in the Strip", Kallas said.

"The EU's relationship with Palestine is growing stronger, and in less than a month, a high-level political dialogue will be held in Brussels for the first time with Palestine, which will be an important basis for strengthening cooperation on multiple levels for years to come," she said.

Kallas also condemned Israeli actions in the West Bank, saying they "are destroying the two-state solution, which is the only path to sustainable peace".

Mustafa described Israel's renewed assault on Gaza as "grave violations of international law and the rights of the Palestinian people", and urged continued international pressure on Israel to end its assault, while ensuring accountability for its actions.

He also called for support from the EU to rebuild Gaza.

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Also on Monday, Kallas met separately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, during which Abbas stressed the need to open the border crossings to allow the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, to ensure that the State of Palestine assumes its full responsibilities in the enclave, and to secure a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

Since March 2, Israel has cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies, including food, medicines, fuel, and cooking gas, into Gaza. It has also cut power to southern Gaza's desalination plant, limiting access to clean water for some 600,000 people.