Hamas seeks amendments to the US ceasefire proposal for Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Hamas is seeking amendments to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior official with the group told The Associated Press on Saturday, as hungry Palestinians in Gaza stopped and emptied dozens of trucks carrying aid.

The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks, said proposed amendments focused on “the U.S. guarantees, the timing of hostage release, the delivery of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.”

A separate Hamas statement said the proposal aims for a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an ensured flow of aid. It said 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others would be released ” in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.”

Israeli officials have approved the U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the nearly 20-month war. U.S. President Donald Trump has said negotiators were nearing a deal.

A ceasefire would pause the fighting for 60 days, release some of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and much-needed food aid and other assistance, according to Hamas and Egyptian officials who earlier spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Desperation rises inside Gaza

Palestinians in Gaza blocked and offloaded 77 food trucks, the U.N. 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.

A witness in the southern city of Khan Younis, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told the AP the U.N. 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 pressure slightly eased in recent days as Israel allowed some aid to enter, aid organizations say far from enough food 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 U.N. has said 600 per day were entering under the previous ceasefire 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 and rebuild the trust with communities that more food is coming,” it said in a statement — adding 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.

Attacks, gangs and lack of protection hamper UN distribution

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 U.N. says it has been unable to get enough aid in because of fighting. On Friday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it only picked up five truckloads of cargo from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, and the other 60 trucks had to return due to intense hostilities.

A new U.S- and Israeli-backed foundation started operations in Gaza this week, distributing food at several sites in a chaotic rollout.

Israel says the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation eventually will replace the aid operation that the U.N. 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 U.N. denies that significant diversion takes place.

The GHF works with armed contractors, which it says are needed to distribute food safely. Aid groups have accused the foundation of militarizing aid.

Israeli strikes kill at least 60

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 October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages. Of those taken captive, 58 remain in Gaza. Israel believes 35 are dead and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several others.

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.” If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signs a partial hostage deal, they said, he will be “sentencing to death” those left behind.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, contributed.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war