Hamas says it accepts a new Gaza ceasefire proposal but Israel makes a counter-offer

CAIRO (AP) — The Hamas militant group said Saturday it has accepted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar, but Israel said it has made a counter-proposal in “full coordination” with the third mediator, the United States.

Egypt early in the week made a proposal to get the troubled ceasefire back on track, following Israel’s surprise resumption of fighting. It was not immediately clear whether the proposal changed before Khalil al-Hayyah, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, announced it had been accepted.

Early in the week, an Egyptian official described the proposal to The Associated Press, saying Hamas would release five living hostages, including an American-Israeli, from Gaza in return for Israel allowing aid into the territory and a weekslong pause in fighting. Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the closed-door talks.

On Saturday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no details about Israel’s counter-proposal, which it said was offered after Netanyahu held consultations on Friday.

Israel a week and a half ago ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of people. The White House blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting.

Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns the 59 hostages it still holds — 24 of them believed to be alive. Israel also wants Hamas to give up power, disarm and send its leaders into exile. On Saturday, Israel widened its ground operations in Gaza's southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Frustrated by the threat to remaining hostages in Gaza, families and others rallied again Saturday evening to call for a deal that would bring everyone home.

“The price of your war is the life of the hostages!” some protesters chanted in Tel Aviv. Minor scuffles broke out with police.

“War will not bring our hostages home, it will kill them,” Naama Weinberg, cousin of deceased hostage Itay Svirsky, told a weekly gathering of families in Tel Aviv.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 50,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. Israel’s bombardment and ground operations have caused vast destruction and at their height displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of over 2 million people.

Early this month, Israel again cut off all supplies to Gaza to pressure Hamas to accept new terms to the ceasefire that started in mid-January.

Israel had balked at entering negotiations over the truce's second phase, which were meant to begin in early February. Under the agreement, phase two was meant to bring the release of the remaining 24 living hostages, an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Frankel reported from Jerusalem.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s top education official, who will guide policies affecting K-12 schools during President Donald Trump’s second term, will be elected Tuesday in a race between the teachers union-backed incumbent and a Republican-supported critic.

The electorate will also decide whether to enshrine a voter ID law in the state constitution.

Both contests have sharp partisan divisions, though they have drawn far less spending and national attention than the race for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Polls closed at 8 p.m. CDT.

Here’s a look at the two contests:

The race to lead the state Department of Public Instruction pits incumbent Jill Underly, who is backed by Democrats and the teachers union, against consultant Brittany Kinser, a supporter of the private school voucher program who is endorsed by Republicans but calls herself a moderate.

Wisconsin is the only state where voters elect the top education official but there is no state board of education. That gives the superintendent broad authority to oversee education policy, from dispersing school funding to managing teacher licensing.

The winner will take office at a time when test scores are still recovering from the pandemic, the achievement gap between white and Black students remains the worst in the country and more schools are asking voters to raise property taxes to pay for operations.

Underly’s education career began in 1999 as a high school social studies teacher in Indiana. She moved to Wisconsin in 2005 and worked for five years at the state education department. She also was principal of Pecatonica Elementary School for a year before becoming district administrator.

Underly, 47, was elected state superintendent in 2021 and was endorsed by the union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, as well as the Wisconsin Democratic Party and numerous Democratic officeholders.

Kinser, whose backers include the Wisconsin Republican Party and former Republican Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott Walker, is vying to become the first GOP-affiliated person to hold the superintendent position in more than 30 years.

She worked for almost 10 years as a special education teacher and instructional coach in Chicago Public Schools. After that she spent 15 years at public charter schools in Chicago, California and Milwaukee.

In the Milwaukee area, Kinser worked for Rocketship schools, part of a national network of public charter institutions, and became its executive director for the region.

In 2022 she left Rocketship for City Forward Collective, a Milwaukee nonprofit that advocates for charter and voucher schools. She also founded a consulting firm where she currently works.

Kinser, 47, tried to brand Underly as being a poor manager of the Department of Public Instruction and keyed in on her overhaul of state achievement standards last year.

Underly said that was done to better reflect what students are learning now, but the change was met with bipartisan opposition including from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who was previously state superintendent himself. Evers has not made an endorsement in the race.

Kinser said the new standards lowered the bar for students and made it more difficult to evaluate how schools and districts are performing over time.

Underly portrayed Kinser as nothing more than a lobbyist who doesn’t care about public education. Kinser supports the state’s private school voucher and charter school program, which Democrats and Underly oppose on the grounds that such programs siphon needed money away from public schools.

Wisconsin’s photo ID requirement for voting would be elevated from state law to constitutional amendment under a proposal placed on the ballot by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Even if voters say no to that, the requirement, which has been on the books since 2011, will remain in place as law. It went into effect permanently in 2016 after a series of unsuccessful lawsuits.

Republicans pitched the amendment it as a way to bolster election security and protect the law from being overturned in court.

Democratic opponents argued that photo ID requirements are often enforced unfairly, making voting more difficult for people of color, disabled people and poor people.

If voters pass the measure, it would make it more difficult for a future Legislature controlled by Democrats to change the law. Any constitutional amendment must be approved in two consecutive legislative sessions and by a statewide popular vote.

Wisconsin is one of nine states where people must present photo ID to vote, and its requirement is the nation’s strictest, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Thirty-six states have laws requiring or requesting that voters show some sort of identification, according to the NCSL.

Maximillian Marquez, left, walks to a voting booth at the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language to cast a ballot in the state's Supreme Court election, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

A voter casts a ballot during early voting in Waukesha, Wis., Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)