Truce hopes rekindled
Israel, Hamas agree to talks as humanitarian crisis worsens
Efforts towards a truce in the Israel-Hamas war appeared to rekindle after a new proposal from the Palestinian militant group which also called for more aid into Gaza, where the first food shipment by sea has reached shore.
Israel said it would send a delegation to Qatar for a new round of talks on a possible deal. It also advanced plans for a military operation in Rafah, where most of Gaza’s population has sought refuge from more than five months of war and deprivation.
US charity World Central Kitchen said its team had finished unloading almost 200 tonnes of food, the first shipment to arrive on a new maritime aid corridor from Cyprus.
“All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza,” it said.
The Cypriot government said a second aid ship would depart soon, although rough weather could cause delays.
The United Nations has reported particular difficulty in accessing north Gaza to distribute food and other aid.
Residents say they have resorted to eating wild plants and animal fodder.
With the situation increasingly dire, donors have turned to deliveries by air or sea.
Multiple governments have begun daily aid airdrops over Gaza, while the new maritime corridor is to be complemented by a US-military-built temporary pier.
But air and sea missions are no alternative to land deliveries, UN agencies say.
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said at least 63 people had been killed over the previous 24 hours.
Earlier on Saturday, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra reported 36 deaths from a strike on a house sheltering displaced people in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
The Israeli military said it had targeted two “terror operatives” in Nuseirat “throughout the night” and added it was reviewing the “circumstances of the incident”.
AFPTV images showed a building blown apart. Yussef Tabatibi said survivors were trying to recover the dead with only their bare hands.
“What should we do? God help us,” he said.
In negotiations aimed at securing a truce and hostage release deal, Hamas has put forward a new proposal for a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of about 42 Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, an official from the Islamist group told AFP.
Until Friday, Hamas had insisted no further hostages would be exchanged without a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Now it says that, during a sixweek truce, Israeli forces would need to pull out of “all cities and populated areas” in Gaza.
The Hamas proposal also calls for more humanitarian aid, the official added. Israel has so far rejected withdrawing troops from Gaza, saying such a move would amount to victory for Hamas.