Trump says could be Gaza ceasefire deal 'next week'
Mr Trump said it was good that Hamas said it had responded in "a positive spirit" to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal.
Yesterday, Hamas said it was prepared to enter into talks on implementing the deal, which envisages a release of hostages and negotiations on ending the conflict.
Mr Trump had announced a "final proposal" for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, saying he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours.
Hamas wrote on its official website: "The Hamas movement has completed its internal consultations as well as discussions with Palestinian factions and forces regarding the latest proposal by the mediators to halt the aggression against our people in Gaza.
"The movement has delivered its response to the brotherly mediators, which was characterized by a positive spirit. Hamas is fully prepared, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework," the statement said.
In a sign of potential challenges still facing the sides, a Palestinian official of a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing to Egypt and clarity over a timetable of Israeli troop withdrawals.
Mr Trump said on Tuesday 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, who is due to meet Mr Trump in Washington on Monday, 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.
Israeli media cited an Israeli official as saying that Israel had received and was looking into Hamas' response to the ceasefire proposal.
Mr Trump expressed optimism late yesterday to reporters aboard Air Force One, who asked about Hamas' response.
"They said they gave me a positive response? Well, that's good," Trump said, adding that he had not yet been briefed. "There could be a Gaza deal next week."
An Egyptian security official told Reuters that Egypt, which along with Qatar is mediating ceasefire efforts, had seen Hamas' response and said: "It includes positive signs that an agreement is near, but there are some demands from Hamas that need to be worked on."
Trump has said he would be "very firm" with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza ceasefire, adding that the Israeli leader wants one as well.
Dozens killed in Israeli attacks, says civil defence agency
The perceived progress in ceasefire developments comes as Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed 20 people across Gaza this morning.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said five of the dead were killed in a strike on a school in Gaza City.
A second strike near another school in the city where displaced civilians had found shelter killed three people and wounded around 10, including children, he said.
Yesterday, Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 52 people, Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said.
Mr Mughayyir said the Palestinians killed included five shot while waiting for aid near a US-run site near Rafah in southern Gaza and several who were waiting for aid near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the centre of the territory.
They were the latest in a spate of deaths near aid distribution centres in the devastated territory, which UN agencies have warned is on the brink of famine.
The US- and Israeli-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distanced itself from reports of deadly incidents near its sites.
Local health officials have said Israeli attacks killed at least 138 Palestinians in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
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 around 2am local time, 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 previous 24 hours while striking 100 targets across Gaza, including military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers.
Later last night, 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," she said.
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