Hamas seeks amendments to Gaza cease-fire proposal but US envoy calls it ‘unacceptable'
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Witkoff on social media instead described a 60-day cease-fire deal that would free half the living hostages in Gaza and return half of those who have died. He urged Hamas to accept the framework proposal as the basis for talks that he said could begin next week.
Israeli officials have approved the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the nearly 20-month war. President Trump has said negotiators were nearing a deal.
'We want the bloodshed to stop,' Motasim, a man from the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said of the talks. 'I swear to God, we are tired.'
Palestinians in Gaza blocked and offloaded 77 food trucks, the UN World Food Program said, as hunger mounts following Israel's monthslong blockade of the territory. The WFP said the aid, mostly flour, was taken before the trucks could reach their destination.
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A witness in the southern city of Khan Younis, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told said the UN convoy was stopped at a makeshift roadblock and offloaded by desperate civilians in their thousands.
The nearly three-month blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of over 2 million to the brink of famine. While Israel allowed some aid to enter in recent days, aid organizations say far from enough is getting in.
Israel's military body in charge of aid coordination in Gaza, COGAT, said 579 trucks of aid had entered over the past week. The United Nations has said 600 per day were entering under the previous cease-fire that Israel ended with new bombardment.
The WFP said the fear of starvation in Gaza is high. 'We need to flood communities with food for the next few days to calm anxieties,' it said in a statement. It added that it has over 140,000 metric tons of food — enough to feed Gazans for two months — ready to be brought in.
The United Nations said earlier this month that Israeli authorities have forced them to use unsecured routes within areas controlled by Israel's military in the eastern areas of Rafah and Khan Younis, where armed gangs are active and trucks were stopped.
An internal document shared with aid groups about security incidents, seen by the AP, said there were four incidents of facilities being looted in three days at the end of May, not including Saturday's.
The UN says it has been unable to get enough aid in because of fighting.
A new US and Israeli-backed foundation started operations in Gaza this past week, distributing food at several sites in a chaotic rollout.
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Israel says the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation eventually will replace the aid operation that the UN and others have carried out during nearly 20 months of war. It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The UN denies that significant diversion takes place.
The foundation works with armed contractors, which it says are needed to distribute food safely. Aid groups have accused the foundation of militarizing aid. The GHF said it distributed 30 truckloads of food on Saturday and called it their largest distribution so far.
Israel continued its military campaign across Gaza, saying it struck dozens of targets over the past day. Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.
The ministry said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire early Saturday in Rafah. Three others were killed — parents and a child — when their car was struck in Gaza City. An Israeli strike hit another car in Gaza City, killing four. And an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, killing six, said Weam Fares, a spokesperson for Nasser Hospital.
Israel's military said several projectiles from Gaza fell in open areas.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.
A group of hostages' relatives again pleaded for a comprehensive ceasefire deal that would free everyone at once, saying the remaining hostages 'will not survive continued military pressure.'
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