US says that Israel accepts Gaza ceasefire plan; Hamas cool to it
Israel has agreed to a US ceasefire proposal for Gaza, the White House said on Thursday, and Hamas said it was reviewing the plan although its terms did not meet the group's demands.
As a US-backed system for distributing food aid in the shattered enclave expanded, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted a deal presented by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Netanyahu's office did not confirm the reports, but White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington that Israel had signed off on the proposal.
She did not detail its contents. A source briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the initial phase of the proposed deal would include a 60-day ceasefire and the flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it was studying the proposal, and senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the group was still discussing it.
But Abu Zuhri said its terms echoed Israel's position and do not contain commitments to end the war, withdraw Israeli troops or admit aid as Hamas has demanded.
Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March after only two months.
Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all 58 hostages still held in Gaza must be returned before it will agree to end the war.
Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war.
AID EFFORT EXPANDS
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private group backed by the US and endorsed by Israel, expanded its aid distribution to a third site on Thursday.
Heavily criticised by the United Nations and other aid groups as inadequate and flawed, the group's operation began this week in Gaza, where the UN has said 2 million people are at risk of famine after Israel's 11-week blockade on aid entering the enclave.
The aid launch was marred by tumultuous scenes on Tuesday when thousands of Palestinians rushed distribution points and forced private security contractors to retreat.
The chaotic start to the operation has raised international pressure on Israel to get more food in and halt the fighting in Gaza. GHF has so far supplied about 1.8 million meals and plans to open more sites in the coming weeks.
Witkoff told reporters on Wednesday that Washington was close to 'sending out a new term sheet' about a ceasefire to the two sides in the conflict that has raged since October 2023.
'I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict,' Witkoff said then.
Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that have normally been reluctant to criticise it openly demanding an end to the war and a major relief effort.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the devastating Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, and left the enclave in ruins.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
eNCA
2 hours ago
- eNCA
27 killed as Israeli army opens fire near Gaza aid point
GAZA CITY - Twenty-seven people were killed in southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli troops opened fire near a US-backed aid centre, with the military saying the incident was under investigation. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres decried the deaths of Palestinians seeking food aid as "unacceptable" and the UN rights chief condemned attacks on civilians as "a war crime", after a similar shooting near the same site on Sunday. Gaza's civil defence agency said that "27 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", in the territory's south. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal earlier told AFP the deaths occurred "when Israeli forces opened fire with tanks and drones", while Israel said troops fired towards "suspects" who had ignored warning shots. The International Committee of the Red Cross gave the same death toll but without mentioning the Israeli forces. The organisation said Gazans face an "unprecedented scale and frequency of recent mass casualty incidents". The latest shooting occurred about a kilometre (just over half a mile) from a centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which Israel has worked with to implement a new aid distribution mechanism. The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the group over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. At a hospital in southern Gaza, the family of Reem al-Akhras, who was killed in the shooting at Rafah's the Al-Alam roundabout, were beside themselves with grief. "She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her," her son Zain Zidan said. AFP | Paz PIZARRO, Omar KAMAL, Cléa PÉCULIER Akhras's husband, Mohamed Zidan, said "every day, unarmed people" were being killed. "This is not humanitarian aid; it's a trap." The Israeli military maintains that its forces do not prevent Gazans from collecting aid. Army spokesman Effie Defrin said the Israeli soldiers had fired at suspects who "were approaching in a way that endangered" the troops, adding the "incident is being investigated". - 'Unconscionable' - Rania al-Astal, 30, said she had gone to Al-Alam 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." Fellow witness Mohammed al-Shaer, 44, said at first "the Israeli army fired shots into the air, then began shooting directly at the people". GHF said the operations at its site went ahead safely on Tuesday. A military statement said troops saw some people "deviating from the designated access routes" to the Al-Alam aid point, and fired warning shots. When "the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects", it added. The previous shooting on Sunday killed at least 31 people at the Al-Alam roundabout, rescuers said. A military source acknowledged "warning shots were fired towards several suspects". AFP | The world body's human rights chief Volker Turk called such attacks "unconscionable". "Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime," he said. The White House said it was "looking into the veracity" of the reports from Rafah. Israel has come under mounting pressure to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where people are facing severe shortages after Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade. The blockade was recently eased, but the aid community has urged Israel to allow in more food, faster. AFP | - The US-backed group named a new chairman on Tuesday, while a consulting firm that helped create it said it had terminated its contract with GHF. Israel has stepped up its offensive in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war. Apart from the aid centre incident, Gaza's civil defence agency reported 19 killed in Israeli attacks on Tuesday. The army said three of its soldiers had been killed in northern Gaza, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed in the territory since the start of the war to 424. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 4,240 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,510, 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.
IOL News
6 hours ago
- IOL News
'Massacre of civilians': 27 killed and over 160 injured in aid distribution attack as Gaza's health system teeters on collapse
A plume of smoke erupts as vehicles move along a road used by displaced people fleeing from Khan Yunis westwards to al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip after the Israeli military had issued an evacuation order the previous day. The Ministry described the attack as a "massacre of citizens waiting for aid' and stated that many of the injured remain in critical condition. Initial reports indicated that there were 24 fatalities and dozens of injuries, but the number rose as more victims arrived at overwhelmed and heavily under-resourced hospitals. A deadly Israeli strike on Palestinians awaiting humanitarian aid in the Al-Alam distribution zone in Rafah Governorate has left at least 27 people dead and over 161 wounded, many critically, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement released on Tuesday. The strike came amid escalating attacks and ongoing evacuations ordered by the Israeli military. These attacks are directly impacting Gaza's few remaining health facilities. Of particular concern is the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, which is the last operational hospital in southern Gaza that provides specialised services. 'Dozens of patients and wounded in intensive care, operating rooms, emergency units, and neonatal wards face certain death if the complex goes out of service,' warned the Health Ministry. Health System on the Brink Gaza's medical infrastructure is nearing total collapse. According to the Ministry, operating rooms, ICUs, and ERs are overwhelmed by the influx of casualties. Additionally, there is a severe shortage of life-saving medicines, surgical supplies, and diagnostic equipment. Generators are running on minimal fuel, risking total blackouts in critical care areas. Starvation and Malnutrition As the health system is on the brink of collapse and attacks continue, Israel's blockade threatens the entire population of the Gaza Strip with famine, global hunger monitor Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative has warned in a report. The report stated the Gaza Strip 'is still confronted with a critical risk of famine' after over a year and a half of war, with the vast majority of its approximately 2.1 million people at severe risk. In March, the Israeli military halted the entry of food, water, medicine and all other life-saving supplies into Gaza. It is June and the blockade continues with no sign of stopping or a ceasefire. The report added that approximately 93 percent of Gaza's population is experiencing acute food shortages. Human Rights Watch reported last month that children in Gaza have been dying from starvation-related complications since the Israeli government began using starvation as a weapon of war, which it deemed a war crime. Doctors and families in Gaza described children, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration, and hospitals ill-equipped to treat them. To make matters worse, food prices in Gaza are soaring excessively. The IPC report points to a 3,000 percent increase in the price of wheat flour since February in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south.
Daily Maverick
8 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
EU's growing resolve: Sanctions on Israel now discussed amid mounting atrocities in Gaza
The EU is losing patience with Benjamin Netanyahu's Israel. After months of mounting atrocities in Gaza, it is finally reaching a turning point in its tolerance for the rogue Israeli state. Israel's relentless military campaign, flagrant disregard for international law, and spiralling settler violence in the West Bank have triggered a political shift in Europe. What once seemed unthinkable — European sanctions on Israel — is now being openly discussed. With the blocking of humanitarian aid and open calls for ethnic cleansing, Israel's actions have become too severe to ignore, deny or justify. In recent weeks, a cascade of unusually strong statements, diplomatic rebukes and threats of sanctions has emerged from European capitals — and the momentum is growing. On 20 May 2025, 17 of the EU's 27 foreign ministers triggered a formal review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement — citing concerns over serious human rights violations. The UK has suspended trade negotiations, while Norway's sovereign wealth fund has blacklisted two Israeli companies due to their operations in the West Bank settlements. And most crucially, last week the leaders of France, Canada and the UK jointly warned of sanctions on Israel unless humanitarian access to Gaza was urgently improved. Perhaps most symbolically, Germany — consistently Israel's most steadfast ally in Europe — has spoken out. The recently elected chancellor Friedrich Merz — a conservative politician and staunch supporter of Israel — publicly condemned Israeli actions in Gaza as unjustifiable. His statement marks an unprecedented step in post-war German foreign policy, which has long been anchored by its staatsraison, which sees Israel's existence and defence as a cornerstone of the very meaning of a German democratic state. That sanctions on Israel now would be too little, too late is hard to argue. The contrast with the swift and deeply economically damaging sanctions levied on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is glaring. The West's selective application of international law has exposed deep-seated hypocrisy in its ongoing acquiescence of Israel that is rooted in geopolitical alliances, historical guilt and economic interests. However, failure to act now would not correct past failings on this issue but rather compound them. The United Nations and countless human rights organisations have presented recurring evidence of widespread war crimes in Gaza. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former foreign minister. At the International Court of Justice, South Africa's case of genocide against Israel is gathering momentum. Clearly, if the EU wants to preserve its credibility as a foreign actor and defender of human rights and international law, it cannot waste any more time. Furthermore, Israel's expanding settlements and open declarations of ' cleansing ' Gaza of Palestinians are not only morally indefensible — they are a security threat to Europe and other mid-sized liberal democracies by setting an existentially dangerous precedent. If Netanyahu is allowed to get away with seizing the West Bank and Gaza, why should Putin or Trump not do the same on their flanks in Europe and Canada? What Europe can — and must — do The question is what it can do. First, it is obvious that if Europe opts for sanctions it will have to do so without the US. That will mean banking and financial sanctions are likely to be ineffective, as the EU cannot control the USD international financial system run out of Wall Street. Rather, the EU should immobilise any foreign exchange reserves that reside in the EU. This would impose a huge economic cost on Israel. As Martin Sandbu has shown in the Financial Times, the Bank of Israel invests about a quarter of its relatively large stock of reserves in Europe. A freeze would make this unavailable for stabilising the Israeli economy and currency, which have already been hard hit by the costs of funding the war. In time, these could also be put towards compensation due to Palestinians and the astronomical cost of clearing and rebuilding Gaza. Second, the EU should hit Israel even harder with sanctions on trade and travel. Israel sources nearly half of its goods imports from Europe and sends more than a third of its exports to the continent. A significant share of its imports consists of fuels, which would be hard hit by restrictions on Europe's dominance of shipping-related services. According to its statistics bureau, at least a quarter of Israel's critical services trade is with Europe. Restrictions on business services and tourism would be highly disruptive, both economically and reputationally. Overcoming EU gridlock Critics of the EU would argue that discussions on sanctions towards Israel is a moot point; foreign policy, and by extension the imposition of sanctions, require EU council unanimity. There are enough stooges of Israel within the EU to sabotage any discussions, most obviously Victor Orban's Hungary. Orban has already defied international law by welcoming Netanyahu to Budapest, despite the ICC arrest warrant. This, however, is precisely why the EU must reform its decision-making processes. It cannot continue to allow its foreign policy to be hijacked by a single illiberal leader, as they have been with Hungary repeatedly holding up sanctions on Russia. Actions on Israel should serve as the catalyst for moving decision-making on foreign policy from unanimity to qualified majority voting. The EU must also be prepared for retaliation from Washington. Already the US has attacked the ICC over its case against Israeli leaders. The feelings of Donald Trump towards Europe are clear, having labelled the bloc a 'foe', its leaders as 'parasites', and the whole of the EU being 'formed to screw over America'. He recently threatened the bloc with 50% tariffs. But appeasing US hostility is not a strategy, it is surrender. Taking the lead on actions against Israel would also serve to build a coalition of the willing, to which Canada, Australia and South Africa, among others, would be able to join. For countries like South Africa, stuck between China and the 'West', there are now two Wests — the liberal one in Brussels and the illiberal one in Washington. By sanctioning Israel, Europe would send a message that no state is above the law. It would shift the dynamic of international opprobrium of Israel to materially threaten the stability and sustainability of the Israeli economic model. Following economic measures, soft power tactics — such as banning Israel from participation in international sporting and cultural events like the Olympics, international football and Eurovision — would be a possible and natural next step. Apartheid in South Africa was ended in no small part by the international sanctions levelled on it, and the wave of international sentiment against the country. Many have labelled the Zionist state an apartheid one. Yet its actions against the Palestinians in Gaza and its regime of terror in the West Bank make any comparison to the South African apartheid state complimentary. But the point is clear; to end these massacres and crimes against humanity, the EU, and the rest of the West which has retained its moral compass, must use more than words. As Theodore Roosevelt once advised, the key to diplomacy is to 'speak softly and carry a big stick'. Today, the US has forfeited that role. It is the EU that must pick up the mantle, and wield its influence where it counts. Then, after taking the lead, other similarly minded nations will be able to follow. DM
