Gaza

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was created in December 1949, almost two years after the UN voted for the partition of Palestine. It was, and still is, the only UN agency dedicated solely to one dispossessed population — the Palestinians.

In the decades following its creation, UNRWA was engaged in almost all aspects of Palestinian life — from food distribution to healthcare and education to utilities provision. Amid the genocide in Gaza, the agency was sidelined, and its operations were restricted under Israeli pressure.

Now, as a ceasefire is on the horizon, we need UNRWA to fully restore its work and help bring an end to the famine. It is the only organisation that has the capacity to distribute aid fairly and efficiently.

UNRWA has always been part of my family’s life. My parents, my siblings, and I studied in UNRWA’s schools, where we received free education under the supervision of dedicated teachers. We also relied on UNRWA’s food distributions many times, especially when my family experienced financial difficulties. In our childhood, we visited the agency’s clinics regularly for primary healthcare, vaccinations, and basic treatment. This service was always accessible, especially for those who could not afford private care.

After the outbreak of the Israeli genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023, UNRWA continued to provide services as best it could. However, Israel, backed by its Western allies, launched a fierce campaign against the agency. In January 2024, the Israeli government claimed that some UNRWA staff members had been involved in the attacks; as a result, 19 employees were investigated, and some were dismissed.

These allegations gave the justification for Western donor countries to suspend their funding to UNRWA, including the United States and European Union member states. That severely impacted UNRWA’s resources at a time when two million people in Gaza almost fully depended on them.

After the ceasefire agreement was announced in January this year, the aid situation began to improve. UNRWA was able to resume aid distribution in an orderly and fair manner.

It had clear schedules and designated aid centres in each neighbourhood. To avoid chaos, each family had to register in advance using their ID number. They would get a message from UNRWA specifying the day and the exact hour they had to collect their parcels. When they arrived at the centre, their information would be checked by staff or volunteers to ensure that no one was skipped or received more than they deserved. Each family would receive a food parcel based on its size. This system gave Palestinians a sense of order in the middle of very difficult conditions.

Unfortunately, this situation did not last. On March 2, Israel blocked aid from entering the Strip, and on March 19, it resumed its genocide. Once again, people had to face displacement and unbearable conditions they thought they would never have to endure.

On April 25, UNRWA announced that its food supplies had run out. Since then, we have been enduring another severe famine. UNRWA, along with many humanitarian agencies, halted their aid operations, leaving over a million people to suffer from hunger and malnutrition.

A month later, the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was created to take over aid distribution as a response to Israeli claims that aid was being stolen by Hamas.

Unlike UNRWA, GHF does not offer an organised system of distribution. Its aid sites are located in dangerous areas, and its process of handing over parcels is chaotic. There are no schedules, no registration, no fair distribution. Every day, a limited number of food parcels are just dumped in a fenced-off area, and people are allowed to rush in and get whatever they can. “Order” is enforced through live fire by Israeli soldiers or foreign mercenaries, who by now have killed more than 2,500 Palestinians seeking aid.

Apart from the deadly aid at GHF, Israel has allowed only a meagre amount of aid to enter Gaza; most of it has been looted before reaching its intended destination. In late July, it started allowing commercial trucks as well. All of the goods they carry go to merchants and are sold at exorbitant prices.

The famine has been relentless.

Every day, I see children in my neighbourhood rushing to get a bit of food from a takyah — a small soup kitchen run by a Palestinian charity. These local organisations usually buy the little food available in the local markets with donations from abroad. The meals are simple — rice, lentils, pasta, or soup. Families who are unable to afford food prices depend entirely on these meals.

Ironically, in August, many of the same countries that had suspended funding to UNRWA called for immediate action to end the famine in Gaza.

“Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” said a statement signed by the foreign ministers of 19 EU member states, along with Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Japan.

Yet, by cutting funding to UNRWA and allowing Israel to devastate the agency, these countries deprived more than two million people of their basic right to food

If they are serious about ending the genocide and the starvation, they must restore their support for the very agency that was created to prevent such suffering and force Israel to allow it to fully restore its services.

UNRWA was always a lifeline for the people of Gaza. It was the only agency that gave us a sense of stability and hope in the middle of chaos. For us to survive this genocide and what comes after it, UNRWA would have to be refunded and protected. Allowing Israel to destroy it would be tantamount to allowing Palestinians to be wiped out.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla who hoped to reach Gaza have been deported after being intercepted and detained in Israel. They say Israeli forces denied them food, water and medicine, and describe Greta Thunberg as being especially mistreated.

Huge numbers of people have turned out at pro-Palestinian rallies across Europe, calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the release of activists on board a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.

Police in Rome said about 250,000 people attended a fourth consecutive day of protests on Saturday after Israel intercepted the 45-boat flotilla trying to reach Gaza last week.

Protesters in the Italian capital, including families with children, shouted: “We are all Palestinians,” “Free Palestine” and “Stop the genocide” as many carried Palestinian flags and wore black-and-white-chequered keffiyehs.

In Spain, about 70,000 people took to the streets in Barcelona, according to the police, while the government in Madrid reported nearly 92,000 marched in the capital.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted on Wednesday, departed Barcelona in early September and had been seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, where a United Nations-backed hunger monitor says famine has taken hold. About 50 Spaniards on the flotilla have been detained by Israel, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told public television in an interview broadcast on Saturday.

Marta Carranza, a 65-year-old pensioner demonstrating in Barcelona with a Palestinian flag on her back, said Israel’s policy “has been wrong for many years and we have to take to the streets”.

Elsewhere, several thousand people marched through the centre of Dublin to mark what organisers described as “two years of genocide” in Gaza. Along with Ireland, Spain is among the fiercest European critics of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

In Ireland, speakers called for sanctions on Israel, an immediate end to the conflict and Palestinian involvement in any ceasefire plan.

In London, police said they made at least 442 arrests at a gathering in support of the proscribed Palestine Action group.

In Paris, where about 10,000 people gathered, a spokesperson for the French contingent of the Sumud Flotilla, Helene Coron, told the crowd: “We’ll never stop.”

“This flotilla didn’t get to Gaza. But we will send another, then another until Palestine and Gaza are free,” she said.

In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government has been criticised for its inaction regarding the siege of Gaza. On Saturday, Meloni accused demonstrators of defacing a statue of Pope John Paul II with graffiti in front of Rome’s main railway station, calling it a “shameful act”.

On September 14, about 100,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators forced the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race in the Spanish capital to be halted because an Israeli team was competing. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Israel should be barred from international sport over the war in Gaza, just as Russia has been penalised over its invasion of Ukraine.

In September, Spain announced it would ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

The US plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza is designed, supervised and administered “primarily by people who are very staunchly pro-Israel,” and has little chance of delivering peace, argues Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard University.

“We’ve seen this movie before,” Walt tells host Steve Clemons. According to the terms announced by US President Donald Trump, Israel can argue at any time that the Palestinian side isn’t fulfilling its obligations and thus resume the war.

Increasingly seen as a threat by other countries in the region, Israel “is in for a very troubling future”, Walt says.

Several international activists deported from Israel after joining a Gaza aid flotilla have accused Israeli forces of mistreating climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

The 137 deportees landed in Istanbul on Saturday, including 36 Turkish nationals alongside activists from the United States, Italy, Malaysia, Kuwait, Switzerland, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan and other countries, Turkish officials confirmed.

Turkish journalist and Gaza Sumud Flotilla participant Ersin Celik told local media outlets he witnessed Israeli forces “torture Greta Thunberg,” describing how she was “dragged on the ground” and “forced to kiss the Israeli flag.”

Malaysian activist Hazwani Helmi and American participant Windfield Beaver gave similar accounts at Istanbul Airport, alleging Thunberg was shoved and paraded with an Israeli flag.

“It was a disaster. They treated us like animals,” Helmi said, adding that detainees were denied food, clean water, and medication.

Beaver said Thunberg was “treated terribly” and “used as propaganda,” recalling how she was shoved into a room as far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered.

Italian journalist Lorenzo Agostino, who had been on the flotilla, also cited the treatment of Thunberg.

“Greta Thunberg, a brave woman, is only 22 years old. She was humiliated and wrapped in an Israeli flag and exhibited like a trophy,” he told Anadolu.

Others described severe mistreatment. Turkish TV presenter Ikbal Gurpinar said, “They treated us like dogs. They left us hungry for three days. They didn’t give us water; we had to drink from the toilet … It was a terribly hot day, and we were all roasting.” She said the ordeal gave her “a better understanding of Gaza”.

Turkish activist Aycin Kantoglu recounted bloodstained prison walls and messages scrawled by previous detainees. “We saw mothers writing their children’s names on the walls. We actually experienced a little bit of what Palestinians go through,” she said.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said 26 Italians had been deported, while 15 remained in Israeli custody awaiting expulsion.

Italian MP Arturo Scotto, who was on the flotilla, told reporters, “Those who were acting legally were the people aboard those boats; those who acted illegally were those who prevented them from reaching Gaza.”

Adalah, an Israeli rights group providing legal aid, said that detainees reported being forced to kneel with zip-tied hands for hours, denied medication, and blocked from speaking with lawyers. Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the claims as “complete lies,” insisting all detainees were treated according to law.

“All of Adalah’s claims are complete lies. Of course, all detainees … were given access to water, food, and restrooms; they were not denied access to legal counsel, and all their legal rights were fully upheld,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson told the news agency Reuters.

Israel has faced mounting condemnation for the raid on the flotilla, which saw its navy intercept approximately 40 boats carrying aid to Gaza and detain more than 450 people on board.

Critics say the assault underscores the illegality of Israel’s blockade, which has cut off the enclave’s 2.3 million residents during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.

The flotilla, launched in late August, was the latest international effort to break Israel’s siege and deliver aid to Palestinians.

Negotiations are due to begin in Cairo, which US President Donald Trump says may bring an end to Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has partially agreed to Trump’s plan to end the war, but with major caveats.

So has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But the details have yet to be agreed upon, including how Israeli forces withdraw and who will govern the Strip after the war ends.

So, is it possible to draw up a plan that all sides can agree to?

What would an interim government look like?

And what does all of this mean for the Palestinian people?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Mouin Rabbani – Researcher, Analyst and Co-Editor of Jadaliyya

Yossi Mekelberg – Political Analyst and Senior Consulting Fellow at Chatham House.

Muhammad Shehada – Analyst and Senior Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations

Israeli attacks across the besieged Gaza Strip have killed at least 61 Palestinians, medical sources said, despite calls from United States President Donald Trump for Israel to stop its bombardment after Hamas said it had accepted some elements of Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war.

At least 45 of the victims killed in bombardments and air strikes on Saturday were in the famine-struck Gaza City, where the Israeli army has been pressing an offensive in recent weeks, forcing some one million residents to flee to the overcrowded south.

Eighteen people were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli strike on a residential home in the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, medics said. The attack also damaged several buildings nearby.

In a statement shared on Telegram, Gaza’s civil defence agency said seven children between the ages of two months and eight years old were among those killed.

Israeli forces also targeted a displacement camp in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, killing two children and wounding at least eight others.

Al-Mawasi is a so-called safe humanitarian zone that the Israeli army has been ordering Palestinian families to evacuate to. But the area has been repeatedly targeted over the last few weeks and months.

There have also been air raids on other areas, including in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from az-Zawayda.

“Hospitals are unable to treat all of these Palestinians,” she said, referring to the handful of battered medical facilities that remain functional in the north amid a severe fuel shortage.

“What is happening on the ground doesn’t show that there is any type of ceasefire,” she said.

Trump demands urgency

On Saturday, Trump urged Hamas to move quickly to release captives and finalise negotiations over his plan to end the war, “or else all bets will be off”.

“I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done, FAST. Everyone will be treated fairly!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

In a separate post later on Saturday, Trump said Israel had agreed to an initial “withdrawal line” and that it was also shared with Hamas.

“When Hamas confirms, the Ceasefire will be IMMEDIATELY effective, the Hostages and Prisoner Exchange will begin, and we will create the conditions for the next phase of withdrawal,” he wrote.

Hamas had agreed to certain key parts of Trump’s 20-point proposal, including Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners. But the group has left some questions unanswered, such as whether it would be willing to disarm.

Trump will be sending his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to Egypt to finalise the technical details of the captive release and discuss a lasting peace deal, according to a White House official. Egypt will also host delegations from Israel and Hamas on Monday to discuss things further, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The first phase of Trump’s proposal includes the return of all captives, dead and alive, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Speaking to reporters from Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed negotiators will be working on a timeline for the release of the remaining captives under Trump’s Gaza plan in Egypt.

He also reiterated that the US proposal includes the demilitarisation of Hamas.

That will be achieved either through Trump’s proposal or through Israeli military action, he said. He added he hoped to announce the return of the captives, all while the Israeli military remained deep in Gaza.

Adnan Hayajneh, a professor of international relations and US foreign policy at Qatar University, said Hamas wants guarantees that if it releases the Israeli captives, there will be implementation of the rest of Trump’s 20-point plan. This includes a clear picture of what the future governance of Gaza will look like.

“There’ll be a long negotiation, and Hamas will take part in it,” Hayajneh told Al Jazeera.

Arab leaders also aired some reservations about the plan to Trump, “but most of the reservations were not taken into consideration regarding the governance of Gaza, the military forces … the future of arms,” said the professor.

“If you look at the plan, it’s almost a surrender for Hamas,” he added. “I think they’re leaving that bargaining chip, which is very important, the hostages, for the last minute.”

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 67,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and experts believe the actual toll could be as much as three times higher.

President Trump has released a Gaza “peace” plan that would put Gaza under a Trump-chaired “Board of Peace”. While some in the international community have welcomed the move, some question the fact that it bypasses Palestinians and offers no path to statehood. So, with Netanyahu pledging not to fully withdraw from Gaza, will this deal bring genuine peace or cement the status quo?

This week on an UpFront special, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with one of the world’s foremost experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Norman Finkelstein.

US president Donald Trump’s order to halt fire in Gaza has forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ban his ministers from media interviews to avoid confrontation with the US president. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh breaks it down.

Protests take place in Barcelona, Rome, Lisbon and London, where police made more than 100 arrests.

Tens of thousands of people are marching in major cities across Europe to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, with mass rallies taking place in urban centres across the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Protests in Spain’s second-largest city, Barcelona, as well as in Madrid, were planned weeks ago, while calls for demonstrations in Rome and Lisbon followed widespread anger after Israeli forces intercepted a humanitarian aid flotilla – the Global Sumud Flotilla – that had set sail from Barcelona for Gaza, trying to break Israel’s blockade of the famine-struck Palestinian territory.

More than 40 Spaniards, including a former Barcelona mayor, are among the 450 activists that Israel detained from the flotilla’s boats this week.

Italy already saw more than two million people rally on Friday across the country in a one-day general strike to support the people of Gaza.

Spain has seen a surge of support for Palestinians in recent weeks while its government intensifies diplomatic efforts against the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Protests against the presence of an Israeli-owned cycling team repeatedly disrupted the Spanish Vuelta cycling event last month, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the war on Gaza a “genocide” and asked for the ban of all Israeli teams from international sporting events.

The calls for protests in Europe come as Hamas said it has accepted some elements of the plan laid out by United States President Donald Trump to end the two-year assault, which has killed more than 66,000 people and left Gaza in ruins.

Barcelona’s town hall said police estimated that 70,000 turned out for Saturday’s demonstration.

People packed Barcelona’s wide Passeig de Gracia, the city’s central boulevard. Many families turned out, along with people of all ages. Protesters carried Palestinian flags or wore T-shirts supporting Palestine.

Hand-held signs bore messages like “Gaza hurts me,” “Stop the Genocide,” and “Hands off the flotilla”.

Maria Jesus Parra, 63, carried a Palestinian flag high after making an hourlong trip from her home in another town to Barcelona. She wants the European Union to act against what she described as the horrors she watches on televised news on a daily basis.

“How is it possible that we are witnessing a genocide happening live after what we [as Europe] experienced in the 1940s?” Parra said. “Now nobody can say they didn’t know what was happening.”

Arrests in London

A protest in Rome is also under way, organised by three Palestinian organisations along with local unions and students. The protesters will march from Porta San Paolo and end at San Giovanni. Police expect tens of thousands to attend, state broadcaster Rai reported.

A protest in London in support of the prosribed group Palestine Action is also under way, despite police requesting a postponement following a deadly attack at a synagogue in Manchester earlier this week.

Two people were killed in the attack in the northwestern city on Thursday, and police shot dead the attacker, a British man of Syrian descent.

Police have arrested at least 175 people at the scene of Saturday’s main protest event in Trafalgar Square in central London.

Officers began carrying away protesters as seated activists wrote out slogans on placards declaring their support for Palestine Action. Onlookers chanted “shame on you” at the police.

Organisers refused requests by the police and the government to call off the demonstration, which had been announced before the attack, to protest against the banning of pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws.

Police claimed Saturday’s protests would draw resources away from security they have tightened around synagogues and mosques following Thursday’s attack.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for calm in a post on X on Saturday morning, saying: “I urge anyone thinking about protesting this weekend to recognise and respect the grief of British Jews.

“This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain. It is a time to stand together,” he said.

Thousands have also taken to the streets in Dublin, Ireland, to mark two years since Israel launched its war on Gaza and to urge the Irish government to sanction Israel, local media reported.

The protest came after 16 Irish citizens were among the hundreds detained by Israel after it intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, the report said.

A protest is also being staged in Athens on Saturday afternoon, although police believe a bigger one will take place on Sunday, to coincide with a pro-Israeli one.

Hamas has announced it accepts parts of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan but wants more talks on several key points. Here’s a breakdown of what we know so far.

Palestinians are celebrating in Gaza amid a reduction in Israeli military action. The relative quiet followed Donald Trump’s order for Israel to stop bombing the strip. Hani Mahmoud reports from Gaza, where fewer air strikes are being seen as an early sign of progress.

Gaza’s civil defence agency has reported that Israel conducted dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City – despite United States President Donald Trump’s demand to halt bombardments following Hamas’s partial acceptance of a ceasefire deal.

“It was a very violent night, during which the (Israeli army) carried out dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the Strip, despite President Trump’s call to halt the bombing,” civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told AFP.

Basal, who works for a rescue force, said 20 homes were destroyed in the overnight attacks.

Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, reported receiving casualties from a strike on a home in the city’s Tuffah neighbourhood, including four deaths and multiple people injured.

At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, officials confirmed two children were killed and eight people were wounded when a drone struck a tent in a displacement camp.

The proposal for Gaza, unveiled by Trump this week with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s support, outlines a ceasefire, the release of captives within 72 hours, disarmament of Hamas, and a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

On Friday, Hamas expressed willingness to release captives held in Gaza under the Trump plan but requested negotiations on some specifics and participation in decisions regarding the Palestinian territory’s future.

Oct. 3 (UPI) — Hamas leaders say they will release all hostages, living and dead, but need more than three days to do so, which prompted President Donald Trump to urge Israel to stop bombing Gaza.

Hamas said it wants to enter into negotiations to end the war in Gaza that started when Hamas and its allies attacked, killed and kidnapped Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Hamas leaders in a Friday night statement said they agreed to “release all Israeli prisoners, both living and dead, according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal,” according to the BBC.

Its leaders said they will need more than 72 hours to arrange the release of an estimated 48 hostages, of which only 20 are thought to be living.

Hamas did not say it accepts the peace plan proposed by Trump and others, though.

The president set a deadline for Hamas to agree to the peace plan that was negotiated with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu or face “all hell, like no one has ever seen before,” Trump said on Truth Social.

The 20-point peace plan was written by Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

The plan calls for an immediate end to fighting, the release within 72 hours of the 20 living hostages and the return of remains of those believed to be dead.

Hamas leaders said they are willing to “hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support,” as reported by NBC News.

After reviewing Hamas’ response, Trump said he believes the designated foreign terrorist organization is “ready for lasting peace,” The Times of Israel reported.

He also said it’s important for Israel to stop attacking Gaza to support the peace effort.

“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the hostages out safely and quickly!” the president said in a Truth Social post on Friday evening.

“Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that,” he added. “We are already in discussions on details to be worked out.”

Trump said ending the war is about more than Gaza and is aimed at bringing peace to the entire Middle East.

US President Donald Trump has ordered Israel to halt its bombing of Gaza, saying Hamas is ready to make peace. The order came after Hamas agreed to parts of Trump’s peace proposal, including the release of all Israeli captives. Trump thanked Arab states for their help in trying to end the war.

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — President Trump said Friday that Hamas must agree to a proposed peace deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught nearly two years into the war sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel.

Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His peace plan has been accepted by Israel and welcomed internationally, but key mediators Egypt and Qatar, and at least one Hamas official, have said some elements need further negotiation, without elaborating.

“An Agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time,” Trump wrote Friday on social media. “Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”

Trump’s plan would end the fighting and return hostages

Under the plan, which Trump unveiled earlier this week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas would immediately release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive. It would also give up power and disarm.

In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction. Plans to relocate much of Gaza’s population to other countries would be shelved.

The territory of some 2 million Palestinians would be placed under international governance, with Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it. The plan provides no path for eventual reunification with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state.

A Hamas official told the Associated Press this week that some elements of the plan are unacceptable and need to be amended, without elaborating. Palestinians long for an end to the war, but many view this and previous U.S. proposals as strongly favoring Israel.

U.S. and Israel seek to pressure Hamas

Israel has sought to ramp up pressure on Hamas since ending an earlier ceasefire in March. It sealed the territory off from food, medicine and other goods for 2 1/2 months and has seized, flattened and largely depopulated large areas of the territory.

Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched a major offensive aimed at occupying it. An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office, said she saw several displaced families staying in the parking lot of Shifa Hospital during a visit on Thursday.

“They are not able to move south because they just cannot afford it,” Cherevko told the Associated Press. “One of the families had three children and the woman was pregnant with her fourth. And there were many other vulnerable cases there, including elderly people and people with disabilities.”

Trump wrote that most of Hamas’ fighters are “surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished. As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed.”

Most of Hamas’ top leaders in Gaza and thousands of its fighters have already been killed, but it still has influence in areas not controlled by the Israeli military and launches sporadic attacks that have killed and wounded Israeli soldiers.

Hamas has held firm to its position that it will only release the remaining hostages — its sole bargaining chip and potential human shields — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Hamas must surrender and disarm.

Second anniversary approaches

Thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, attacking army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, most of them since released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, and left much of the territory uninhabitable.

Both the Biden and Trump administrations have tried to end the fighting and bring back the hostages while providing extensive military and diplomatic support to Israel.

Shurafa and Khaled write for the Associated Press. Khaled reported from Cairo. AP writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.

Hamas has submitted its response to United States President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal, agreeing to free all the Israeli captives it holds, but asking to negotiate other aspects of the 20-point plan.

Trump – who had given the Palestinian group a deadline of Sunday to respond positively to the deal – has reacted by demanding Israel immediately stop bombing Gaza.

Is this finally the end of a war that has dragged on for almost two years, killing more than 66,000 Palestinians? Or are there more pitfalls ahead?

Let’s take a closer look.

How did Hamas respond exactly?

Hamas has said that it has agreed to release all Israeli captives held in Gaza, both dead and alive, “in a manner that achieves” an end to Israel’s war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

It also said that it would hand over power in Gaza to a body of Palestinian technocrats.

On the rest of Trump’s 20-point plan, which included the disarmament of Hamas, the group said that it should be “discussed within a comprehensive Palestinian national framework, in which Hamas will be included and will contribute with full responsibility”.

Has Trump responded positively?

Trump has welcomed the Hamas response, and wrote on his Truth Social site that he believes the Palestinian group are “ready for a lasting PEACE”.

In a major announcement, he also said that “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza” so that the captives could be released.

“We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East,” he wrote.

Trump then released a video message reiterating that he considered Hamas’s response a win.

“This is a big day. We’ll see how it all turns out. We have to get the final word down in concrete,” he said. “I just want to let you know that this is a very special day… Everyone was unified in wanting this war to end and seeing peace in the Middle East, and we’re very close to achieving that.”

What is Israel’s position?

Trump announced his Gaza peace plan on Monday, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House.

Netanyahu said at the time that he supported Trump’s plan, because – he said – it would achieve Israel’s war aims.

“It will bring back to Israel all our hostages, dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities and its political rule, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said.

But the prime minister also had some caveats. In the White House, Netanyahu noted that if Hamas rejected the plan, “or if they supposedly accept it and then basically do everything to counter it”, Israel would “finish the job by itself”.

And a few hours later, speaking in Hebrew to a domestic Israeli audience, Netanyahu said that he had not agreed to a Palestinian state, and promised that the Israeli military would stay in most of Gaza.

What will be the main sticking points?

Hamas has made it clear that it is not willing to accept several aspects of Trump’s plan, including an interim administration led by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“We will never accept anyone who is not Palestinian to control the Palestinians,” Hamas senior official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera, adding that the appointment of Blair was particularly unwelcome because of his past involvement in the invasion of Iraq.

The topic of disarmament will also be problematic. Trump and Netanyahu say the group must immediately lay down its arms, but Hamas has only said that it is willing to discuss the topic.

“Hamas’s statement says that the future of Gaza – the future of the whole struggle – will be left to Palestinian consensus,” said Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem. “They want a broader Palestinian consensus to reach a final answer. So, what’s clear is that Hamas said, ‘Yes – but …’”

Will Israel really stop bombing Gaza?

The Israeli government is likely to be unhappy with Trump’s positive reaction because Hamas has not simply agreed to all its demands. It is already being reported, according to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, that Netanyahu was “surprised” at Trump’s response, and viewed Hamas’s answer as a “rejection” of the plan.

Netanyahu’s government is dominated by the far-right, who have warned that they will bring down the prime minister if he agrees to a deal that they do not like. For its part, the Israeli opposition has indicated that it supports the deal, but a lack of trust between them and Netanyahu means that a coalition between them will be difficult to achieve.

Much will now come down to how far Trump is willing to twist Netanyahu’s arm and force him to agree to a deal.

“You can imagine the forces gathering here in Washington, DC, right now, attempting to change Donald Trump’s mind,” said Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington.

“All of this now depends on how committed he is and how much pressure the mediators … are putting on him to keep to the terms of this agreement [and] not, as in the past, allow Hamas to live up to the agreement and allow Israel to resume the war again,” Rattansi added.

In the meantime, Israel is continuing to bomb Gaza, with a particular focus on Gaza City. At least 72 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since dawn on Friday, according to medical sources.

US leader tells Israel it ‘must immediately stop’ bombing Gaza, says he believes Hamas is ‘ready for a lasting peace’.

UK police are urging organisers to cancel a pro-Palestine protest set to take place in London this weekend after Thursday’s deadly synagogue attack. Activists say the attack should not be conflated with protests over Israel’s genocidal war.