New Delhi, March 30 -- A top Hamas official said on Saturday that the group accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal it received two days ago from mediators Egypt and Qatar, urging Israel to back it.

"Two days ago, we received a proposal from the mediators in Egypt and Qatar. We dealt with it positively and accepted it," Khalil al-Hayya was quoted by Reuters as saying in a televised speech.

"We hope that the [Israeli] occupation will not undermine [it]," said Hayya, who leads the Hamas negotiating team in indirect talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza that erupted in October 2023.

Khalil al-Haya added, "The weapons of the resistance are a red line." He said Hamas would not disarm as long as the "Israeli" occ...