IDF orders more Gaza evacuations after rocket attack; Israel offers Hamas 40-day truce for 11 living hostages

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) called on residents of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun to evacuate toward the coast, after a rocket launched from the area was intercepted by the IDF on Tuesday morning.

The launch triggered alarm sirens in Sderot, Ibim, and Or HaNer. “The terrorist organizations again launch their rockets from among the civilians. We have warned about this area many times. For your safety, you must move west immediately,” said the IDF’s Arabic spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee.

The latest escalation comes as Israel is reportedly waiting for a response from Hamas after submitting its latest proposal, which includes a 40-day ceasefire in exchange for 11 living hostages and 16 bodies of killed hostages.

#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في مناطق بيت حانون، مشروع بيت لاهيا، الشيخ زايد وأحياء المنشية وتل الزعتر
🔴هذا انذار مسبق وأخير قبل الغارة!🔴
⭕️تعود المنظمات الإرهابية وتطلق قذائفها الصاروخية من بين المدنيين.
⭕️لقد حذرنا هذه المنطقة مرات عديدة.
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم عليكم… pic.twitter.com/RMx3LKCz68

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) April 1, 2025

According to a report by Channel 13, citing security sources, Israel demands the release of about half of the remaining living hostages and half of the remaining bodies.

Israel also demands that Hamas release the living hostages on the first day of the agreement, including U.S.-Israeli IDF soldier Edan Alexander, before submitting details about the medical condition of the remaining hostages on Day 5, and releasing the hostage bodies on Day 10.

In addition, Channel 12 reported that Israel categorically rejects withdrawing from the buffer zone around the Gaza border, which IDF troops are currently expanding even further, even as part of a final agreement to end the war.

Israel is said to have signaled to Hamas that the current talks are the last chance before, quoting U.S. President Donald Trump, the “gates of hell” would be opened.

The framework was reportedly approved by a cabinet meeting on Sunday, which also decided to increase the military pressure even further.

The ministers are said to have agreed that the current moves, including evacuating additional areas of Gaza, expanding the buffer zone, and keeping up the blockade of the enclave, could prove the critical components to pressure Hamas to release more Israeli hostages.

On Monday, the IDF ordered the evacuation of the city of Rafah, the largest evacuation order since the end of the ceasefire.

The latest framework is a counterproposal to Hamas’ latest offer of five hostages for a 50-day ceasefire, which Israel rejected.

In an unofficial response by senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, he claimed that the main reason Hamas doesn’t hand over the hostages to stop the war is its lack of trust in Israel.

“If we knew that handing over the Israeli hostages to Israel would stop the war, permanently, we would do it, but the truth that everyone sees, especially after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, is that Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to continue killing indefinitely in order to preserve his political future and the future of his government,” Abu Zuhri told Al Jazeera.

“If the talks go well, Hamas will eventually release the remaining hostages, both alive and dead,” a senior security official told Ynet News.

“Israel agrees to talk about essential things but insists on a series of conditions: maintaining the security zone in which Israel will remain, demilitarizing the Strip, and security arrangements. Israel refuses to commit in advance to ending the war, but in its view, if all the hostages are returned, Gaza will be demilitarized, and Hamas leaders agree to exile, this will bring about the end of the war,” the official explained.