Egypt Floats Plan To End Israel-Hamas War

CAIRO (AP) — Israel and Hamas have given cool public receptions to an Egyptian proposal to end their bitter war. But the longstanding enemies on Monday stopped short of rejecting the plan altogether. The Egyptian plan calls for a phased hostage release and the formation of a Palestinian government of experts to administer the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, according to a senior Egyptian official and a European diplomat familiar with the proposal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment directly on the proposal. But speaking to members of his Likud Party, he said the war is not “close to finished.” Hamas, meanwhile, said it wouldn’t negotiate without an “end to the aggression.”