Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza as Trump says ceasefire possible "next week"
Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 72 people from Friday into Saturday morning, officials with the Hamas-run health ministry said.
Among those killed were 12 people near the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought, the Associated Press reported. More than 20 bodies were taken to Nasser Hospital, according to health officials. A strike midday Saturday killed 11 people on a street in eastern Gaza City, and their bodies were taken to Al-Ahli Hospital.
Three children and their parents were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp in Muwasi near the southern city of Khan Younis. They were struck while sleeping, relatives said.
"What did these children do to them? What is their fault?" said the children's grandmother, Suad Abu Teima.
The strikes come as President Trump on Friday said there could be a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas within the next week.
"I think it's close," Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the prospect of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "We think within the next week, we're going to get a ceasefire."
Israel and Hamas have not publicly commented on the status of any potential agreement.
The Trump administration has pushed for a pause in fighting since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January. However, a deal has proven elusive so far. Talks have been on again, off again since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the Strip's dire humanitarian crisis.
Late last month, Mr. Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a 60-day ceasefire. Under that proposal, Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 dead hostages who were taken to Gaza during Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel, according to a copy obtained by CBS News. Israel would release 125 "life sentence" prisoners, 1,111 Palestinian detainees and 180 deceased Palestinians as part of the deal.
Israel supported that proposal, but Hamas said it responded with "some notes and amendments." Witkoff called the response from Hamas "totally unacceptable" in
An official with knowledge of the situation told the AP that Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza's ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to still be alive. They were part of some 250 hostages taken when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the 21-month-long war.
The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children.
There is hope among hostage families that Trump's involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose.
Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says he will only end the war once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected.
Meanwhile, hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May.
Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys.
Palestinians have also been shot and wounded while on their way to get food at newly formed aid sites, run by the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's health officials and witnesses.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel's military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.
