Hamas says it has given a ‘positive’ response to the ceasefire proposal in Gaza

DEIR al-BALAH Gaza Strip AP Israeli airstrikes killed Palestinians in Gaza early Friday while a hospital announced another people died in shootings while waiting for aid Meanwhile Hamas disclosed it had given a positive response to the latest proposal for a ceasefire though it commented negotiations were needed on how to implement it The U N human rights office says it has recorded Palestinians killed within the span of a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid Majority were killed while trying to reach food distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization while others were massed waiting for aid trucks connected to the United Nations or other humanitarian organizations Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani disclosed the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings But she commented it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation In a message to The Associated Press Shamdasani noted that of the total tallied killings were GHF-related meaning at or near its distribution sites Information keeps coming in she added This is ongoing and it is unacceptable The GHF has denied any serious injuries or deaths on its sites and says shootings outside their immediate vicinity are under the purview of Israel s military In a message Friday GHF cast doubt on the casualty figures and accused the U N of trying to falsely smear our effort The Israeli military also issued new evacuation orders Friday in northeast Khan Younis and urged Palestinians to move west ahead of planned military operations against Hamas in the area The new evacuation zones pushed Palestinians into increasingly smaller spaces by the coast killed Friday while seeking aid Since GHF began distributions in late May onlookers have stated almost daily that Israeli troops open fire on crowds of Palestinians on the roads leading through military-controlled zones to the food centers Bureaucrats at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis noted at least three Palestinians were killed Friday on their way to GHF sites in the area of Rafah in southern Gaza The Israeli military has reported previously it fires warning shots to control crowds or at Palestinians who approach its troops On Friday in reaction to the U N analysis it commented in a announcement that it was assessing reports of people killed and wounded while seeking aid and that it had given instructions to troops in the field based on lessons learned from reviewing the incidents It disclosed it was working at minimizing workable friction between the population and Israeli forces including by installing fences and placing signs on the routes Separately onlookers have stated Israeli troops open fire on crowds of Palestinians who gather in military-controlled zones to wait for aid trucks entering Gaza for the U N or other aid organizations not associated with GHF The crowds are usually made up of people desperate for food who grab supplies off the passing trucks On Friday people were killed waiting for trucks in eastern Khan Younis in the Tahliya area leaders at Nasser Hospital stated Three survivors described the AP they had gone to wait for the trucks in a military red zone in Khan Younis and that troops opened fire from a tank and drones It was a crowd of people may God help them who want to eat and live declared Seddiq Abu Farhana who was shot in the leg forcing him to drop a bag of flour he had grabbed There was direct firing Airstrikes also hit the Muwasi area on the southern end of Gaza s Mediterranean coast where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes are sheltering in tent camps Of the people killed in the strikes eight were women and one was a child according to the hospital Israel s military declared it was looking into Friday s disclosed strikes U N investigates shootings near aid sites In its comment reacting to the U N rights office review GHF accused the U N of taking its casualty figures directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strength Ministry and of promoting Hamas false propaganda Shamdasani the U N rights office spokesperson informed the AP that the statistics is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources including therapeutic human rights and humanitarian organizations Rik Peeperkorn representative of the World Strength Organization reported Nasser Hospital the biggest hospital operating in the south receives dozens or hundreds of casualties every day the majority coming from the vicinity of the food distribution sites The overwhelmed hospital has become one massive trauma ward he reported The WHO supports Nasser Hospital and other healthcare facilities The International Committee of the Red Cross also declared in late June that its field hospital near one of the GHF sites has been overwhelmed more than times in the previous months by mass casualties It commented the casualties had been on their way to the food distribution sites and the vast majority of patients suffered gunshot injuries Also on Friday Israel s military noted a soldier was killed in combat in the north of Gaza and it was inspecting Over Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began including more than during the fighting in Gaza Efforts ongoing to halt the war The fresh killings took place as efforts to halt the -month war appeared to be moving forward We ll see what happens We re going to know over the next hours U S President Donald Trump notified reporters on Air Force One late Thursday when appealed if Hamas had agreed to the latest framework for a ceasefire A Palestinian official informed AP on Friday that Hamas is still working on its response the proposal presented to it by Egyptian and Qatari mediators He mentioned the response will be positive but added that Hamas is insisting on guarantees regarding an Israeli withdrawal to positions it held on March during a previous ceasefire and an end to the war following a -day truce as well as ending the GHF system for distributing aid The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk the press Trump stated Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a -day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen The Strength Ministry in Gaza commented the number of Palestinians killed in the territory has passed The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says more than half of the dead are women and children The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel killing people and taking roughly hostages