Amid Israeli threats, Trump says Ceasefire is Very Close

Israel on Friday said Hamas must accept a hostage deal in Gaza or “be annihilated,” as US President Donald Trump announced that a ceasefire agreement was “very close.” It came amid dire conditions on the ground, with the United Nations warning that Gaza’s entire population was at risk of famine.

In the United States, Trump told reporters “they’re very close to an agreement on Gaza,” adding: “We’ll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow.”

Food shortages in Gaza persist, with aid only trickling in after the partial lifting by Israel of a more than two-month blockade. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency, called Gaza “the hungriest place on Earth.”
“It’s the only defined area - a country or defined territory within a country -where you have the entire population at risk of famine,” he said.

Later, the UN condemned the “looting of large quantities of medical equipment” and other supplies “intended for malnourished children” from one of its Gaza warehouses by armed individuals.

Aid groups have warned that desperation for food and medicine among Gazans was causing security to deteriorate. Israel has doubled down on its settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, while defying calls from French President Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders for a two-state solution.

The White House announced on Thursday that Israel had “signed off” on a new ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas. The Palestinian group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands, but stopped short of rejecting it outright, saying it was “holding consultations” on the proposal.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said that at least 45 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Friday, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.

Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed. “These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes,” said neighbor Mahmud Al-Ghaf, describing “children in pieces.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said separately that the air force had hit “dozens of targets” across Gaza over the past day.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that at least 4,058 people had been killed since Israel resumed operations on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,321, mostly civilians.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.