The White House on Thursday announced that Israel has “signed off on” a new ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, with the Palestinian militants confirming they are “currently studying it responsibly.”
President Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff “submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, adding that discussions with Hamas were “continuing.”
The announcement comes amid ongoing efforts to end more than 19 months of war, which resumed in March after a brief truce collapsed. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, with food security experts warning that starvation threatens one in five people.
Despite aid beginning to trickle into Gaza following a two-month Israeli blockade, violence persists. Gaza’s civil defence reported 54 deaths on Thursday from Israeli attacks, including 23 in a strike on a home in Al-Bureij and two near a US-backed aid centre criticised by the UN and EU.
“What is happening to us is degrading. The crowding is humiliating us,” said Gazan Sobhi Areef, who risked his life visiting the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation centre for basic supplies. “We go there just to get a bag of flour to feed our children.”
{{/usCountry}}“What is happening to us is degrading. The crowding is humiliating us,” said Gazan Sobhi Areef, who risked his life visiting the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation centre for basic supplies. “We go there just to get a bag of flour to feed our children.”
{{/usCountry}}The Israeli military denied knowledge of shootings near the aid centre, saying its forces struck a “Hamas cell” in Al-Bureij and were reviewing civilian casualty reports.
It said it had targeted “dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in the past day.
Jordan’s foreign minister accuses Israel of ‘systematic starvation tactics’
Meanwhile, Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of “systematic starvation tactics” crossing “all moral and legal boundaries” in a call with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Tensions around aid delivery have escalated after thousands of Palestinians stormed a World Food Programme warehouse, with Israel and the UN trading accusations over the worsening hunger crisis.
Medical facilities face growing strain, with reports that Israeli troops are “carrying out a forced evacuation” of the last operational hospital in northern Gaza.
The conflict, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, has claimed over 54,000 lives, mostly civilians. At least 3,986 people have died in Gaza since Israel ended the ceasefire in March.
With AFP inputs