Israel accused of killing 20 Gazans waiting for aid
GAZA STRIP/WASHINGTON — Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that Israeli fire killed 20 people and wounded 155 waiting to receive desperately needed aid in the besieged territory, but Israel said the reports were “erroneous”.
It came as Reuters reported that Hamas had presented a Gaza cease-fire proposal to mediators, which includes a first stage of releasing Israeli women, children, elderly and ill hostages in exchange for the release of 700-1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The release would include 100 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons and the release of Israeli “female recruits”.
Hamas said it would agree on a date for a permanent cease-fire after the initial exchange of hostages and prisoners, according to the proposal.
A deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would be agreed upon after the first stage.
With the United Nations warning of a looming famine in Gaza, besieged by Israel after the Oct 7 attack by Hamas militants, a Spanish aid ship sailed closer to the Gaza coast, opening a maritime corridor from Cyprus.
Efforts to get food and other aid into Gaza have grown, including by air and sea, but fighting rages on after mediators failed to reach a truce for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The health ministry in Gaza accused Israeli troops of opening fire from “tanks and helicopters” as Palestinians gathered at a roundabout in Gaza City in the north.
Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a hospital in Gaza, said there were “direct shots by the occupation forces” on people waiting for a food truck.
The Israeli military denied had opened fire on the crowd.
“Press reports that Israeli forces attacked dozens of Gazans at an aid distribution point are erroneous,” it said in a brief statement, adding that it was “analyzing the incident seriously”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected international pressure and doubled down on his pledge to launch a ground assault on Rafah in the south, where most it of Gaza’s population of 2.4 million has sought refuge.
Mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar failed to broker a new truce in time for Ramadan, but Netanyahu said on Thursday that there was now “Qatari pressure on Hamas”, who he said was “clinging to unacceptable demands”.
Increased pressure
In Washington, the leader of the Senate called on Thursday for Israel to hold new elections in the most strident criticism yet by a senior US official of Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict.
The rebuke from Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish American in history, came amid increased pressure from US President Joe Biden over the mounting death toll in the conflict.
“As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may. But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice,” said Schumer, head of the chamber’s Democratic majority, without suggesting a timeline for a vote.
“There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after Oct 7.”
In a sign of worsening ties between Washington and the Netanyahu government, Schumer said the Israeli leader was one of four “major obstacles” to peace.
He accused Netanyahu of surrounding himself with extremists — singling out cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar BenGvir — and of being “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows”.
“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said.
His remarks were welcomed by liberal lobby group J Street as a “historic shift” for pro-Israel Democrats that reflected the views of the “overwhelming majority” of American Jews.
But this sparked an angry pushback from Netanyahu’s Likud party, which retorted that Israel “is not a banana republic, but an independent and proud democracy that elected Prime Minister Netanyahu”.