Israel receives response from Hamas to Gaza truce proposal

Israel received a response from Hamas to a new ceasefire deal proposed by Qatari mediators on Thursday, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported citing an unnamed Israeli official.

David Barnea, chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, received the written response from Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement, saying Hamas "continues to fortify itself with unfounded demands." The office added that the wartime Cabinet is expected to convene on Friday to discuss the proposal.

Despite the comment from the PM office, Israeli state-owned Kan TV news reported that the document includes a list of demands that Israel considers "reasonable."

Hamas is ready to show flexibility in negotiations "if Israel adheres to a specified ceasefire deadline" in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas source told Xinhua.

The source, who did not want to be identified, said that the movement's leadership has not yet received any positive signs from the mediators regarding the Israeli position.

He said that if positive signals are received with guarantees, it would "bring us closer to reaching an agreement and push the movement to show flexibility in negotiations for the exchange of prisoners."

Conflict continues 

Meanwhile, violence on the ground continued, with dozens of Palestinians killed while awaiting aid in two separate attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry has said.

In the first incident, eight people were killed in an airstrike on an aid distribution center in Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. Later, at least 20 people were killed and more than 155 others were wounded by Israeli gunfire at a crowd awaiting aid trucks at a northern Gaza roundabout.

Avijaa Adraei, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on Friday called reports that the IDF targeted dozens of Gaza residents on Thursday evening at a humanitarian aid distribution point "incorrect."

"While the IDF is examining the details of the incident with the required accuracy, we call on the media to act in the same way and rely on reliable information on the matter," Adraei said in a social media post.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 69 Palestinians and wounded 110 others in the coastal enclave, bringing the total death toll to 31,341 and injuries to 73,134 since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7, 2023, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said in a press statement on Thursday.

(With input from agencies)