Hamas says it is still reviewing a US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire
On Thursday, a top Hamas official, Bassem Naim, said the U.S. proposal “does not respond to any of our people’s demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine.”
The uncertainty over the new proposal came as hospital officials said that 27 people had been killed Friday in separate airstrikes. A strike that hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 13, including eight children, hospital officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 12 people, including three women, were brought to Shifa Hospital on Friday from the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of two others were brought to a hospital in Gaza City.
Hospital officials also said Friday that at least 72 had been killed in Gaza during the previous day. That figure does not include some hospitals in the north, which are largely cut off due to the fighting.
Since the war began, more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children, have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which left around 1,200 dead.
Some Gaza residents said their hope for a ceasefire is tempered by repeated disappointment over negotiations that failed to deliver a lasting deal.
"This is the war of starvation, death, siege and long lines for food and toilets,” Mohammed Abed told The Associated Press in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. “This war is the 2025 nightmare, 2024 nightmare and 2023 nightmare.”
Abed said he and his family struggle to find food, waiting three hours to get a small amount of rice and eating only one meal daily.
“It’s heartbreaking that people are being starved because of politics. Food and water should not be used for political purposes,” he said.
Another Gaza resident, Mohammed Mreil, said about the possibility of a truce that: “We want to live and we want them (Israelis) to live. God did not create us to die.”
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