Hamas seeks amendments to US ceasefire proposal

Hamas is seeking amendments to the latest US ceasefire proposal for Gaza, but President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable”.

Israeli officials have approved the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the nearly 20-month war.

A Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks, said proposed amendments focused on “the US 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.”

Fifty-eight hostages remain and Israel believes 35 are dead.

Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was unimpressed with Hamas’ response.

“It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” he wrote on X.

As hopes for a ceasefire ramp up, desperation rises inside Gaza.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip blocked and offloaded dozens of food trucks, the UN World Food Program says, as desperation mounts following Israel’s months-long aid blockade while talks of a ceasefire inch forward.

The World Food Program said 77 trucks carrying aid, mostly flour, were stopped by hungry people who took the food before the trucks could reach their destination.

The nearly three-month Israeli aid blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of over two million to the brink of famine.

The World Food Program said the fear of starvation in Gaza is high despite the aid that’s entering now.

“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.

A witness in the southern city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press the UN convoy was stopped at a makeshift roadblock and offloaded by desperate civilians in their thousands.

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 week, distributing food at several sites in a chaotic rollout.

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 a significant diversion takes place.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation works with armed contractors, which it says are needed to distribute food safely.

Aid groups have accused the foundation of militarising aid.

Israel continued its military campaign across Gaza, saying it struck dozens of targets over the past day.

AP