A new round of negotiations begins today Sunday for a cease-fire in Gaza, with Hamas in Cairo, where it is expected to give its “official response” to the proposal drawn up in late January by the countries that are mediating — Qatar, Egypt, the US — and Israeli negotiators, according to an AFP source close to the Palestinian Islamist movement. At the same time, the first aid shipment from the US to the Palestinians was sent yesterday Saturday where over 30,000 meals were parachuted into them aby three military planes as well the humanitarian crisis continues to grow in Gaza.

The proposal calls for a “first phase” of a six-week ceasefire and the release of 42 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Israel is reportedly close to acceptance of a proposed six-week truce for Gazaa senior Biden administration official told multiple US news outlets on Saturday.

Regarding the Israel-Hamas deal, a US official said that there is a “framework agreement” and Israel “more or less accepted” a ceasefire to allow the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and allow aid to be delivered to the bomb-ravaged territory.

The ceasefire will allow the release of hostages in Gaza who are considered the most vulnerable, including women, the elderly and the wounded, and the flow of aid to the besieged coastal enclave.

However, the official said that Hamas has yet to agree on a ‘designated category of vulnerable hostages’ – a point where the agreement “sticks”. Israel has reportedly said that ceasefire talks will not resume until Hamas presents a list of hostages, including who is dead and who is alive.

The proposal calls for a “first phase” of a six-week ceasefire and the release of 42 hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Three C-130s dropped supplies into Gaza

At the same time, with people in Gaza on the brink of starvation, the United States yesterday carried out its first humanitarian airdrop in the Gaza Strip, which the UN says is at risk of starvation, in nearly five months. war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas, which has claimed more than 30,300 lives.

The operation comes two days after Israeli soldiers opened fire on a hungry crowd that had rushed an aid convoy inside Gaza City, a tragedy that claimed the lives of 116 people, according to the Islamist Palestinian movement.

Faced with the difficulties of transporting humanitarian aid by road, mainly to the northern part of the besieged territory, countries have recently parachuted shipments, notably Jordan with the support of France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as Egypt in cooperation with the united arab emirates.

“Airdrops cannot and should not replace humanitarian access,” warned the non-governmental organization International Rescue Committee (IRC), however.

gauze

“We received two bags of flour from the aid that arrived on the day of the massacre in Gaza on Thursday,” said Hisham Abu Eid, a 28-year-old resident of the Zeitoun neighborhood: “This is not enough. Everyone is hungry. Aid is scarce and insufficient.”

Three US military planes they dropped 66 “parcels” equivalent to more than 38,000 meals, in a joint operation with Jordan, according to the official of the US military command in charge of the Middle East (Centcom).

“Non-existent” accusations

The UN Security Council yesterday expressed its “grave concern” over food insecurity in the Gaza Strip and called for the unimpeded and “large-scale” distribution of humanitarian aid.

Aid shipments, which require a green light from Israeli authorities, which imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip when Hamas took power there, arrive via Egypt at Rafah, but its quantity is like a drop in the ocean.

The situation is most alarming in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where shelling, fighting and looting make the distribution of aid virtually impossible.

An aid delivery in Gaza City turned into tragedy on Thursday when hundreds of desperate people rushed the trucks carrying it.

Eyewitnesses and Hamas reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire on the crowds. A spokesman for the Israeli army acknowledged that there had been, according to him, “limited” fire against the crowd of its soldiers who were “threatened”, assuring that the majority of the dead were trampled due to panic or “carried away” by trucks.

At least 118 people were killed and another 760 injured, according to the latest tally from Hamas’ health ministry.

A UN team visiting the wounded at Ash Shifa hospital in Gaza City saw “a large number of gunshot wounds”.

“To say that we attacked the convoy or that we deliberately shot civilians is unfounded,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said yesterday.

The international community wants an investigation and insists on calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“The whole world is hungry”

Airdrops of aid, or possible deliveries by sea, another option the US government has said it is considering, “cannot replace the necessary influx of aid from as many land routes as possible”, a senior US official noted yesterday.

The World Food Program (WFP) speaks of an “urgent need” for aid to reach “all” those in food crisis in the enclave.

“We will insist on telling Israel that more trucks should be allowed to enter and access roads to Gaza should be increased,” US President Biden said yesterday.

“We received two bags of flour from the aid that was delivered on the day of the massacre, Thursday,” said Hisham Abu Eid, a 28-year-old resident of Zaitoun district. “Are not enough. The whole world is hungry. Help comes rarely and is not enough.”

At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to be pressured by relatives of hostages to make a deal to release them. Yesterday, thousands of protesters gathered in Jerusalem, where a four-day march by their relatives, residents of a kibbutz on the border with the Gaza Strip, ended.

“We want them to return home”, to return “alive”, said a protester. “We can’t wait any longer.”