Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in southern Gaza on May 29.Abdel Kareem Hana/The Associated Press
The Trump administration said Thursday that Israel has accepted a new U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel had supported. She said that Hamas has not yet accepted the proposal but talks are continuing.
A Hamas official told Reuters that the group “is studying the amended Witkoff proposal with a high sense of responsibility, stemming from interest to achieve the interests of our people and ensure an end to the aggression.”
The ceasefire development comes at an intense time in Gaza where people are desperate to obtain food. UN agencies have been warning that people there are at risk of famine. Last Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict.” He said that after a nearly 80-day blockade, Israel had allowed “finally, a trickle” of aid to cross over. It wasn’t enough.
The World Food Program said Wednesday that “hordes of hungry people” broke into its warehouse in central Gaza searching for food. The agency said that according to initial reports, two people died and several were injured. However, the Associated Press, citing hospital staff, reported that four people were killed.
“Humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza,” the WFP said in a statement. It added that it has warned of “alarming and deteriorating conditions” in Gaza and the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people who are desperate for help. The agency called for food assistance to be scaled up, saying it’s the only way to reassure people “that they will not starve.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Israel has signed off on the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal for Gaza.
Reuters
Last week, Israel ended its blockade on humanitarian goods and allowed trucks carrying life-saving aid to enter the enclave. This week, a new controversial U.S.-backed private company called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has the support of Israel, set up aid distribution sites in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas steals aid, something aid groups have denied.
International aid organizations have condemned the new system of distributing aid in Gaza, accusing the state of politicizing the process. Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN’s aid co-ordination office, has said that Israel is trying to bypass its system run by 15 UN aid organizations and 200 NGOs and partners. He warned before the new aid distribution system was launched that it appeared to be “a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid.” He said aid should be provided based on need.
Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN aid co-ordination office for the Palestinian territories, said Wednesday that in Gaza “people are being starved and then drip-fed in the most undignified way possible.” He said the new distribution scheme was “engineered scarcity: four distribution hubs located in central and southern Gaza, secured by private U.S. security contractors, where those Palestinians who can reach them will receive rations.”
An Israeli tank is used in Gaza, near the Israel-Gaza border, on May 29.Amir Cohen/Reuters
Humanitarian aid organizations held a press conference on Parliament Hill Thursday criticizing the new aid distribution method, saying it politicizes an already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Oxfam Canada’s director of international programs, Erin Kiley, said the new mechanism gives Israel power over who receives aid, where and from whom, turning relief into a tool of coercion.
“These actions undermine international humanitarian law and set a precedent for occupying powers to dictate the terms of aid based on political agendas and military goals,” she said.
The UN said this week its human-rights office received information that at least 47 people were injured Tuesday while trying to obtain aid. A spokesperson for GHF said the report of injuries is “completely false” and that GHF “has had no major injuries or deaths since we started operations on Tuesday.”
GHF said that “misinformation” is circulating online and sought to clarify that no shots have been fired at Palestinian crowds at their distribution sites, nor have there been casualties.
The company said in a statement that it continued its operations Thursday at three distribution sites and that they have plans to build more across Gaza, including in the north.
Danny Glenwright, president and chief executive officer of Save the Children Canada, said that none of the chaos unfolding in Gaza is necessary. “This is a crisis that Israel has created because it is bypassing systems that have been in place that work for us, that have worked for us in every conflict setting, in every humanitarian setting in which we’ve worked for many, many decades,” he said.
Mr. Glenwright said that humanitarian principles exist to ensure that those who need aid the most are able to get it, and aid must be delivered independently.
Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, said Israel is trying to alleviate the political pressure it is facing from global allies. “They want to relieve political pressure, but they don’t necessarily want to address the underlying humanitarian crisis,” he said.
He said pressure from the international community needs to continue, and Israel needs to allow experienced humanitarian organizations long established in Gaza to resume their work at scale.
“This is not going to work,” he said of the new aid distribution model. “This is not how you do famine relief. Famine relief is not about making people walk very, very long distances carrying very heavy boxes of food.”
With reports from Abyssinia Abebe and Reuters