Hamas says studying new Israeli truce proposal
Jerusalem, (AFP) - Hamas said it was studying on Saturday the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from mediator Egypt arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations.
The signs of fresh truce talks come as the UN warned that "famine thresholds in Gaza will be breached within the next six weeks" unless massive food assistance arrives.
Aid groups say Gaza's already catastrophic humanitarian conditions would be worsened by an invasion which Israel vows to carry out against Hamas battalions that remain in Rafah, southernmost Gaza.
Rafah, on the border with Egypt, is crowded with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly seven months of war. The area is regularly bombed by Israel already. Hospital officials said strikes in Rafah and elsewhere killed more than a dozen people overnight Friday-Saturday. Among the dead were an entire family, their relative Mohammed Yussef said. "Nobody left: the father, the mother, a girl and two boys" were killed when their house was targeted, he said.
Elsewhere in Rafah people searched the rubble of homes that Abed al-Aziz Barhum, a young man with a thin moustache, said were "bombarded without prior warning".
He appealed to "all Arab people to support us against occupation and help us reach a ceasefire".
Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of
Hamas's political arm in Gaza, said it had "received the official Zionist occupation response to the movement's position, which was delivered to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13". In a statement, Hayya said Hamas "will study this proposal" before responding. The movement has previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire, which Israel rejects.
Egypt, Qatar and the US have been unsuccessfully trying to seal a new truce deal in Gaza. As talks drag on, dozens of people in Gaza die every day, according to figures from the health ministry in the territory. Israel's offensive has killed at least 34,388 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
An international summit set to begin Sunday in Saudi Arabia will have a strong focus on the war, organisers said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be among leaders attending the World Economic Forum special meeting, organisers said.
Israeli demonstrators have intensified protests for their government to reach a deal that would free the captives, accusing PM Benjamin
Netanyahu of prolonging the war.
In its report on Friday, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said "the only way to halt famine" is by "massive and consistent food assistance that can be delivered freely and safely". OCHA says rising temperatures are exacerbating Gaza's sanitation crisis, and an infant girl has died in Rafah from extreme heat.
The main aid agency in Gaza, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), has been under attack and lost some of its global funding since January when Israel said several UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 attack. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said one case has been closed "as no evidence was provided by Israel to support the allegations". Investigations into three others were suspended as information provided by Israel is "not sufficient", Dujarric said.
The Gaza war has led to increased violence between Israel and Iran's proxies and allies, in particular Hezbollah along the border with Lebanon. The violence has fuelled fears of all-out conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
Violence has also soared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank where almost 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since October 7.
The "Freedom Flotilla" aimed at delivering aid to Gaza was blocked in Turkey Saturday after being denied use of two of its ships, which organisers blame on Israeli pressure.
As talks drag on, dozens of people in Gaza die every day, according to figures from the health ministry in the territory. Israel's offensive has killed at least 34,388 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.