DEIR EL-BALAH stated on Friday that it had responded favorably to the most recent ceasefire plan in Gaza, but that more discussions were required to determine how to carry it out.
It was unclear from the statement whether Hamas had agreed to the 60-day ceasefire proposal. The war is almost 21 months old, and Hamas has been demanding assurances that the original truce will result in its complete termination. Israeli officials are scheduled to visit the White House next week to discuss a deal, which Trump has been urging to be reached.
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The Hamas statement was made after a hospital reported that 20 more people were shot dead while attempting to get aid, and Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians in the early hours of Friday.
According to the U.N. human rights office, 613 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the last month while attempting to access aid. Others were gathered waiting for relief trucks affiliated with the UN or other humanitarian groups, while the majority perished while attempting to reach them, according to the report.
Continued attempts to stop the war
that the United States will “work with all parties to end the war” during the 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel had agreed to. Before things get worse, he urged Hamas to embrace the agreement.
Hamas announced in a statement late Friday that it had sent mediators from Qatar and Egypt its affirmative response.
It declared that it is ready to start a round of talks right now about how to put this framework into practice. It didn’t go into detail about the implementation issues that needed to be resolved.
The ceasefire may begin as early as next week, according to a Hamas official, but negotiations are required to determine how many Palestinian detainees would be released in exchange for each Israeli hostage that is freed and to determine how much aid will enter Gaza during the truce. According to Hamas, it wants more help to pass through the UN and other humanitarian organizations. The official was not authorized to discuss the reaction with the media, so he spoke on condition of anonymity.
In addition, the official stated that talks on a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages will begin on the first day of the truce. According to him, Trump has promised that if an agreement is reached during those talks, the ceasefire will be extended beyond the first 60 days. The United States has not confirmed that such a guarantee exists.
Prior rounds of discussions have failed due to Hamas’s demands for assurances that additional talks will result in the end of the war, while Netanyahu has maintained that Israel would return to combat in order to destroy the militant organization.
We’ll wait and see. When questioned late Thursday on Air Force One about whether Hamas had accepted the most recent ceasefire arrangement, Trump responded, “We’re going to know over the next 24 hours.”
20 people were slain Friday while attempting to get help.
At least three Palestinians were slain Friday on the highways leading to food distribution locations operated by the Israeli-backed organization in southern Gaza, according to officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
GHF has stated that they are moving toward the food centers since they started distributing in late May. People must walk many kilometers (miles) through an Israeli military zone, where soldiers guard the road, to get to the sights.
According to the Israeli military, it has fired warning bullets at Palestinians who approach its forces or to disperse crowds. The GHF claims that shootings outside of their local area are under the jurisdiction of Israel’s military and has denied any significant injuries or fatalities on its grounds.
In response to the U.N. rights agency’s allegations, it released a statement on Friday saying it was looking into claims of people being murdered and injured while trying to get supplies. It stated that it was putting up walls and posting notices along the routes in an effort to reduce potential conflict between the populace and Israeli forces.
In a separate incident, witnesses reported that Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinian crowds assembling in military-controlled areas to await the arrival of relief vehicles carrying supplies for the United Nations or other non-GHF humanitarian organizations in Gaza.
According to Nasser Hospital officials, 17 people were killed on Friday while waiting for trucks in the Tahliya region’s eastern Khan Younis.
Three survivors told the AP that soldiers opened fire from a tank and drones while they were waiting for the trucks in a military red zone in Khan Younis.
Seddiq Abu Farhana, who was shot in the leg and had to drop a bag of flour he had grabbed, stated, “May God help them, there was a crowd of people who want to eat and live.” Direct firing took place.
Additionally, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced from their homes and are now taking refuge in tent camps in the Muwasi area on the southern end of Gaza’s Mediterranean shore were struck by aircraft. The hospital reports that eight of the 15 victims killed in the attacks were women and one was a youngster.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the reported attacks on Friday. Regarding the alleged shootings near the relief vehicles, it did not immediately comment.
The U.N. looks into shootings close to assistance locations.
According to U.N. human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani, the organization was unable to assign blame for the murders. However, she stated that it is evident that the Israeli military is targeting Palestinians who are attempting to access the GHF distribution stations.
According to Shamdasani’s statement to The Associated Press, 509 of the total number of fatalities were at or close to GHF distribution stations.
GHF questioned the casualty estimates in a statement released on Friday, claiming the U.N. attempted to defame our effort and obtained its figures straight from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is under Hamas control.
“The data is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical, human rights, and humanitarian organizations,” U.N. rights office spokesperson Shamdasani told the AP.
The largest hospital in the south, Nasser Hospital, receives dozens or hundreds of casualties every day, the majority of whom come from the area surrounding the food distribution facilities, according to World Health Organization official Rik Peeperkorn.
In late June, the International Committee of the Red Cross also reported that mass casualties, the most of whom were shot while traveling to the food distribution sites, had overrun their field hospital close to one of the GHF sites more than 20 times in the preceding months.
Israel’s military also said on Friday that two troops, one in the north and one in the south, had been killed in fighting in Gaza. Since the start of the conflict, more than 860 Israeli troops have lost their lives, including over 400 in the fighting in Gaza.
Ahead of scheduled military operations against Hamas in the region, the Israeli military also asked Palestinians to relocate west and issued further evacuation orders in southern Gaza’s northeastern Khan Younis on Friday. Palestinians were forced into ever smaller areas along the coast by the expanding evacuation zones.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, there have been more than 57,000 Palestinian deaths in the region. The ministry claims that over half of the deceased are women and children, but it does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The U.N. and other international bodies frequently cite the ministry’s statistics, which are maintained by medical experts working for the Hamas government.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and captured some 250 hostages in their onslaught on southern Israel, sparking the start of the conflict.
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Mroue reported from Beirut, and Kullab from Jerusalem. Contributions were made by Associated Press journalists Fatma Khaled in Cairo, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva.
