Hamas ready for new round of indirect Gaza ceasefire talks with Israel
Hamas said on Sunday evening that it is ready to immediately enter a new round of indirect negotiations with Israel to resolve outstanding points of contention, to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and reach a permanent ceasefire, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
The announcement followed the group's Saturday delivery of its response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Both the envoy and the Israeli government later rejected the response outright.
'We welcome the continued...
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Free Malaysia Today
3 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
At least 27 Palestinians killed near Gaza aid site
There have been reports of repeated killings near Rafah as crowds gather to get desperately needed supplies. (AP pic) CAIRO : At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip today, local health authorities said, in the latest bout of chaos and bloodshed to plague the aid operation. The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of individuals who had left designated access routes near the distribution centre in Rafah. It added it was still investigating what had happened. The deaths came hours after Israel said three of its soldiers had been killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, as its forces pushed ahead with a months-long offensive against Hamas rebels that has laid waste to much of the enclave. Reuters could not independently verify the reports in northern and southern Gaza. The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's war-battered population, most of whom have had to abandon their homes to flee fighting. The foundation's aid plan, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles. The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it distributed 21 truckloads of food early today and that the aid operation was 'conducted safely and without incident within the site'. However, there have been reports of repeated killings near Rafah as crowds gather to get desperately needed supplies. On Sunday, Palestinian and international officials reported that at least 31 people were killed and dozens more injured. Yesterday, three more Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians gathering for aid and called reports of deaths during Sunday's distribution 'fabrications' by Hamas. Yesterday, it said IDF forces had identified 'a number of suspects' moving towards them while deviating from the access routes. 'The forces fired evasive shots, and after they did not move away, additional shots were fired near the individual suspects who were advancing towards the forces,' it said. Mass evacuations ordered UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said yesterday he was 'appalled' by reports of Palestinians killed and wounded while seeking aid and called for an independent investigation. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents of several districts in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip late yesterday, warning that the army would act forcefully against rebels operating in those areas. The military told residents to head west towards the Mawasi humanitarian area. Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, and that most of its 2.3 million population has become internally displaced. The territory's health ministry said today that the new evacuation orders could halt work at the Nasser Hospital, the largest, still-functioning medical facility in the south, endangering the lives of those being treated there. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the Oct 7, 2023 assault in which Hamas-led gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. In the subsequent fighting, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, local health authorities say.
The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
Rescuers say Israeli fire kills at least 27 near Gaza aid point
GAZA CITY: Rescuers said the Israeli military killed at least 27 people near a US-backed aid centre in Gaza on Tuesday, with the army reporting it had fired on 'suspects who advanced toward the troops'. The UN human rights chief condemned such attacks as a 'breach of international law and a war crime', after a similar shooting in the same area of southern Gaza on Sunday killed and wounded scores of Palestinians seeking aid, according to the civil defence agency. Tuesday's shooting in the southern city of Rafah came as the agency reported 19 killed in other Israeli attacks in the territory, and as the Israeli army announced three soldiers had been killed in northern Gaza. 'Twenty-seven people were killed and more than 90 injured in the massacre targeting civilians who were waiting for American aid in the Al-Alam area of Rafah,' said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal, who earlier told AFP the deaths occurred 'when Israeli forces opened fire with tanks and drones'. The Al-Alam roundabout is about a kilometre (a little over half a mile) from an aid centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a recently formed group that Israel has worked with to implement a new aid distribution mechanism in the territory. The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the group, saying it contravenes humanitarian principles and appears designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. The military said a crowd was moving towards the aid centre when troops saw them 'deviating from the designated access routes'. 'The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,' it said, adding it was 'aware of reports regarding casualties' and was looking into the details. Rania al-Astal, 30, said she had gone to the area with her husband to try to get food. 'The shooting began intermittently around 5:00 am. Every time people approached Al-Alam roundabout, they were fired upon,' she told AFP. 'But people didn't care and rushed forward all at once -- that's when the army began firing heavily.' - 'Unacceptable' - Mohammed al-Shaer, 44, said the crowd had just set off towards the aid centre when 'suddenly, the Israeli army fired shots into the air, then began shooting directly at the people'. 'A helicopter and quadcopters (drones) started firing at the crowd to prevent them from approaching the tank barrier. There were injuries and deaths,' he told AFP. 'I didn't reach the centre, and we didn't get any food.' The army maintained it was 'not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites'. GHF said the operations at its site went ahead safely on Tuesday, but added it was aware the military was 'investigating whether a number of civilians were injured after moving beyond the designated safe corridor'. 'This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and operations area,' it added, advising 'all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when travelling to our distribution sites'. The shooting on Sunday had also taken place at the Al-Alam roundabout as people congregated before heading to the aid centre, rescuers and witnesses said. The civil defence agency reported 31 people killed and 176 wounded. Afterwards, the army denied firing at people 'while they were near or within' the aid centre. But a military source acknowledged 'warning shots were fired towards several suspects' about a kilometre from the site. UN chief Antonio Guterres urged an independent investigation into that shooting, calling it 'unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food'. 'Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable,' UN human rights chief Volker Turk said after Tuesday's deaths. 'Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime.' - Soldiers killed - Israel has come under mounting pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where people are facing severe shortages of food and other essentials after Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade on supplies. The blockade was recently eased, but the aid community has urged Israel to allow in more food, faster. The US-backed GHF has recently opened a handful of aid distribution centres in southern and central Gaza, and says it has distributed more than seven million meals' worth of food. Israel has recently stepped up its offensive in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war. The Israeli army said Tuesday that three of its soldiers had been killed during combat in northern Gaza, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the conflict to 424. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,201 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,470, mostly civilians. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
UN says ‘deadly attacks' around Gaza aid sites ‘a war crime'
GENEVA: UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday that 'deadly attacks' on civilians around aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip constituted 'a war crime'. Rescuers in the Palestinian territory said Israeli fire targeting civilians near an aid distribution centre in the southern city of Rafah killed 27 people on Tuesday, raising an earlier toll. It came after a similar incident on Sunday when rescuers said 31 people were killed at the same location, witnesses saying they had been on their way to collect aid. 'Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable,' Turk said in a statement. 'For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured.' The US-backed GHF is a recently formed group that Israel has cooperated with to implement a new aid distribution mechanism in Gaza. The United Nations does not work with the foundation because of concerns that it does not meet core humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. Turk called for a prompt and impartial investigation into each attack, and for those responsible to be held to account. 'Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime,' he said. 'Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel's militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism. 'This militarised system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned.'
