Hamas is still considering its response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposal aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza as the death toll of the war rises.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip Hamas was still considering its response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposal aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza as Israeli strikes overnight killed at least 13 Palestinians in the besieged territory, local hospitals said Thursday.
The plan, which has received wide international support, requires Hamas to release all remaining hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets no path to Palestinian statehood.
In Gaza, meanwhile, nine people — almost all women — were killed when a house was hit in the eastern part of the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and three people died when a strike hit a tent, also in Deir al-Balah, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.
In Gaza City, health officials at the Shifa hospital said they received one body and several injured people, adding that its staff is having difficulties in getting to the hospital.
By Thursday morning, Israel had also intercepted most of about 40 vessels in a widely watched flotilla carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid for Palestinians and aiming to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, according to organizers.
