By Samya Kullab, BASSEM MROUE, and WAFAA SHURAFA
Gaza Strip’s DEIR al-BALAH (AP)Hamas stated on Friday that while it has responded favorably to the most recent ceasefire plan in Gaza, more discussions were required to determine how to carry it out.
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It was unclear from the announcement whether Hamas had agreed to the 60-day truce that US President Donald Trump had proposed. The war is almost 21 months old, and Hamas has been demanding assurances that the original truce will result in its complete termination. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit the White House next week to discuss a deal, which Trump has been urging to be reached.
The Hamas statement was made after 15 Palestinians were murdered by Israeli bombs in Gaza early Friday, and a hospital reported that another 20 individuals were shot dead while attempting to get aid.
According to the U.N. human rights office, 613 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the last month while attempting to access aid. While some were gathered waiting for relief trucks affiliated with the UN or other humanitarian groups, the majority were slain while attempting to reach food distribution locations operated by an American organization with Israeli support, according to the report.
Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States would cooperate with all sides to put an end to the conflict during the 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel had committed 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.
Netanyahu has maintained that Israel will resume fighting to ensure the group’s destruction, while Hamas has demanded guarantees that additional negotiations would result in the end of the war, which has caused previous rounds of negotiations to break down.
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.”
At least three Palestinians were slain Friday while traveling to food distribution locations in southern Gaza that are managed by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Witnesses have reported nearly every day since GHF started distributing food in late May that Israeli military open fire on Palestinian crowds on the roads going to the food centers. People must travel several miles through an Israeli military zone, where troops control 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 stating that it was looking into claims of people being killed and injured while attempting to get relief. 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.
According to U.N. human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani, the organization was unable to assign blame for the murders. However, it is evident, she claimed, that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians attempting to get to 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 terrorists killed 1,200 people and captured some 250 captives in their attack on southern Israel, sparking the start of the conflict. The European Union, Canada, and the United States have all classified Hamas as a terrorist group.
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.
