BUIRUT: Israel’s parliament approved a bill banning the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from working in Israel, despite objections from the United States.

Lawmakers passed the bill with 92 votes in favour and 10 against, after years of harsh Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which has only increased since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attacks last year.

CIA Director Bill Burns has floated a deal for a 28-day Gaza ceasefire, the freeing of around eight hostages by Hamas and the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, Axios reports, citing three Israeli officials.

Burns discussed the idea during a meeting on Sunday with Israeli and Qatari counterparts, Axios said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyaju has said he had not received a proposal for a two-day truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza that would include a hostage release, his office said according to AFP.

Netanyahu told his party that Israel “has not received a proposal for the release of four hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in Gaza. If such a proposal had been raised, the prime minister would have accepted it immediately,” his office said in a statement, referring to a proposal revealed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.