Trump hopeful for Gaza cease-fire, possibly 'next week'

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed optimism Friday about a new cease-fire in Gaza, even as criticism mounted over civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the war-torn territory.

Asked by reporters how close a cease-fire was between Israel and Hamas, Trump said, “We think within the next week, we’re going to get a cease-fire.”

The United States helped broker a cease-fire in the Gaza conflict during the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration, with backing from Trump’s incoming team. However, Israel broke the cease-fire in March, launching attacks on Hamas, which had carried out an assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel also halted all food and supplies from entering Gaza for over two months, raising fears of famine. Food deliveries have since resumed under the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by the U.S. and Israel, involving U.S. security contractors alongside Israeli troops near distribution sites.

On Friday, United Nations officials warned the GHF system was leading to mass killings of Palestinians seeking aid, prompting Israel to accuse the U.N. of “aligning itself with Hamas.”

Eyewitnesses and local officials report repeated killings of Palestinians at aid centers in Gaza amid ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas militants. The Israeli military denied targeting civilians, and GHF denied any deadly incidents were linked to its operations.

However, U.N. and aid officials condemned what they described as a wave of killings of people desperate for food.

“The new aid distribution system has become a killing field,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). “People are shot at while trying to access food for themselves and their families. This abomination must end through a return to humanitarian deliveries from the U.N. including UNRWA.”

The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers since late May, while civil defense officials report repeated deaths among those seeking supplies.

“People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “The search for food must never be a death sentence.”

Doctors Without Borders condemned the GHF effort as “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.”

Israel denies targeting civilians

Israel responded angrily, stating GHF has provided 46 million meals in Gaza.

“The U.N. is doing everything it can to oppose this effort. In doing so, the U.N. is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF’s humanitarian operations,” the Israeli foreign ministry said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a report by left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz alleging military commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds near aid sites to disperse them, even when no threat was posed.

Haaretz said the military advocate general ordered investigations into “suspected war crimes” at aid sites. The Israeli military declined to comment.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement saying their country “absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels” and “malicious falsehoods” in the report.

Civil defense reports 80 killed Friday

Gaza’s civil defense agency told AFP that 80 Palestinians were killed Friday by Israeli strikes or fire across the territory, including 10 people waiting for aid.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the incidents and denied its troops fired at one location in central Gaza where an aid seeker was reported killed.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said six people died near a GHF distribution site in southern Gaza, and one in a separate incident in central Gaza. Three others were killed while waiting for aid southwest of Gaza City.

Eight more were killed in a strike on a school housing displaced people in northern Gaza.

Militants attack Israeli forces

Meanwhile, Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said they shelled an Israeli vehicle east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza Friday.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said they attacked Israeli soldiers at two other sites near Khan Younis in coordination with Al-Qassam.

Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the Gaza war, killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to AFP figures based on official data.

Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 56,331 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The U.N. considers these figures reliable.