Hamas give 'positive' response on ceasefire proposal, Palestinian official says

RTÉ News​

4 days ago

Hamas has submitted its response to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal, a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations has said, describing the response as a positive one that should "facilitate reaching a deal."
US President Donald Trump earlier announced a "final proposal" for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours.
"We have handed the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, our response to the ceasefire proposal," a Hamas official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
"The Hamas response is positive and I think it should help and facilitate reaching a deal," said the Palestinian official close to the talks.
Mr Trump said that Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalise" a 60-day ceasefire, during which efforts would be made to end the US ally's war in the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment on Mr Trump's announcement and in their public statements, the two sides remain far apart.
Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Mr Netanyahu is due to meet Mr Trump in Washington on Monday. Asked early this morning if Hamas had agreed to the latest ceasefire deal framework, Mr Trump said: "We are going to know over the next 24 hours."
Mr Trump has said he would be "very firm" with Mr Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza ceasefire while noting that the Israeli leader wants one as well.
"We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward toit happening sometime next week," he told reporters earlier this week. "We want to get the hostages out."
Israeli attacks have killed at least 138 Palestinians in Gaza over the past 24 hours, local health officials said.
Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an airstrike on a tent encampment west of the city overnight, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war.
The Israeli military said troops operating in the Khan Younis area had eliminated militants, confiscated weapons and dismantled Hamas outposts in the last 24 hours, while striking 100 targets across Gaza, including military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers.
Later on, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight.
"There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was shot dead in another incident, she said.
"He went to get aid, so he can get a bag of flour for us to eat. He got a bullet in his neck. It killed him on the spot," she said.
Adlar Mouamar said her nephew, Ashraf, was also killed in Gaza. "Our hearts are broken. We ask the world, we don't want food...We want them to end the bloodshed. We want them to stop this war."
In Tel Aviv, families and friends of hostages held in Gaza were among demonstrators who gathered outside a US Embassy building on US Independence Day, calling on Mr Trump to secure a deal for all of the captives.
Demonstrators set up a symbolic Sabbath dinner table, placing 50 empty chairs to represent those who are still held in Gaza. Banners hung nearby displaying a post by Mr Trump from his Truth Social platform that read, "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THEHOSTAGES BACK!!!"
The Sabbath, or Shabbat, observed from this evening to tomorrow night, is often marked by Jewish families with a traditional Friday night dinner.
"Only you can make the deal. We want one beautiful deal. One beautiful hostage deal," said Gideon Rosenberg, 48, from Tel Aviv.
Rosenberg was wearing a shirt with the image of hostage Avinatan Or, one of his employees who was abducted by Palestinian militants from the Nova musical festival on October7, 2023. He is among the 20 hostages who are believed to be alive after more than 600 days of captivity.
Ruby Chen, 55, the father of 19-year-old American-Israeli Itay, who is believed to have been killed after being taken captive, urged Mr Netanyahu to return from meeting with Trump in Washington on Monday with a deal that brings back all hostages.
"Let this United States Independence Day mark the beginning of a lasting peace... one that secures the sacred value of human life and one that bestows dignity to the deceased hostages by ensuring their return to proper burial," he said, also appealing to Mr Trump.
Itay Chen, also a German national, was serving as an Israeli soldier when Hamas carried out its surprise attack on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage.
Israel's retaliatory war against Hamas has devastated Gaza, which the militant group has ruled for almost two decades but now only controls in parts, displacing most of the population of more than 2 million and triggering widespread hunger.
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in nearly two years of fighting, most of them civilians, according to local health officials.
UN says 613 killed near aid points and humanitarian convoys in Gaza
The UN human rights office said it had recorded at least 613 killings both at aid points run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and near humanitarian convoys run by other relief groups including the UN.
A spokesperson for the UN office said it is clear that Israel has "shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points".
The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel says had let militants divert aid.
The United Nations has called the plan "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules.
"We have recorded 613 killings, both at GHF points and near humanitarian convoys - this is a figure as of June 27. Since then ... there have been further incidents," Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
"It is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points," she added.
"How many killings? Who is responsible for that? We need an investigation. We need access. We need an independent inquiry, and we need accountability for these killings."
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May and has repeatedly denied that incidents had occurred at its sites.
Of the 613 people killed, 509 were killed near the GHF distribution points, the OHCHR said.
The OHCHR said its figure is based on a range of sources such as information from hospitals, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs, and its partners on the ground. It said it is verifying further reports and cannot yet give a breakdown of where they were killed.
The GHF previously claimed it has delivered more than 52 million meals to hungry Palestinians in five weeks, and claimed other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted".
Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on 19 May.