فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump assured that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is “close” and could be implemented as early as “next week,” aiming to end the devastating conflict that has raged for over 20 months in the Palestinian territory.
“We believe we will have a ceasefire next week,” Trump stated, referring to “significant progress” made on the matter, after previously expressing optimism earlier this week.
Trump also addressed the issue of humanitarian aid, a topic on which United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned on Friday a “militarized” distribution system that “kills people.”
“We are providing, as you know, a lot of money and food to this area,” Trump said, highlighting “crowds of people who have nothing to eat.”
Since early March, Israel has imposed a humanitarian blockade on Gaza, causing severe shortages of food, medicine, and other essential goods. This blockade was only partially eased at the end of May, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by Israel and the U.S., began distributing aid at designated centers.
Washington announced on Thursday it had released $30 million to fund the foundation, whose aid distribution operations have repeatedly resulted in chaotic and deadly scenes—a situation strongly condemned by Gaza’s Civil Defense on Friday.
The Civil Defense reported that 80 people were killed on Friday in strikes or gunfire by the Israeli army, including 10 who died while waiting for humanitarian aid.
On Thursday, 65 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, according to rescue teams, including seven seeking assistance at GHF centers.
“The people are being killed simply for trying to feed their families and themselves. Going to get food should never be a death sentence,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press conference in New York.
In response, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the GHF has “directly provided more than 46 million meals to Palestinian civilians” since the start of its distributions in late May, accusing the UN of doing “everything it can to oppose this effort” and aligning itself with Hamas.
Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), operating in Gaza, called earlier for the dismantling of the GHF, describing it as “a sham food distribution that produces mass killings.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu categorically denied allegations published by the left-wing newspaper Haaretz claiming Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot unarmed civilians waiting for humanitarian aid, also rejecting accusations of “ritual murder,” an anti-Semitic libel dating back to the Middle Ages.
Of the 80 people killed on Friday, 10 were reportedly waiting for aid at three different locations in Gaza, according to Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal.
The Israeli army told AFP it was reviewing the Civil Defense’s information but firmly denied that its soldiers fired on people waiting for aid at the Gaza center where a death was reported.
Six others were killed in the south while trying to reach a GHF food distribution site, and three more died waiting for aid southwest of Gaza City, according to Civil Defense.
Since late May, nearly 550 people have been killed and over 4,000 injured in long queues at various humanitarian aid centers, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health, figures considered reliable by the UN.
The GHF denies that deadly shootings have occurred near its distribution points.
On the ground, fierce fighting continues between the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups. The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, and the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad allied with Hamas, have claimed responsibility for attacks on Israeli soldiers.
Israel continues its operations in Gaza as part of an offensive aimed at annihilating Hamas, in retaliation for the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, 2023.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 Israelis, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
The Israeli retaliatory operation has caused the deaths of 56,331 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health, figures regarded as reliable by the United Nations.
