Late on Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that “the changes that Hamas is seeking to make” to the ceasefire proposal were “unacceptable to Israel”.

But it added: “In light of an assessment of the situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed that the invitation to proximity talks be accepted and that the contacts for the return of our hostages – on the basis of the Qatari proposal that Israel has agreed to – be continued. The negotiating team will leave tomorrow.”

Earlier, an Israeli official had briefed local media that there was “something to work with” in the way that Hamas had responded.

Mediators are likely to have their work cut out to bridge the remaining gaps at the indirect talks in Doha.

Watching them closely will be US President Donald Trump, who has been talking up the chances of an agreement in recent days.

On Friday, before he was briefed on Hamas’s response, he said it was “good” that the group was positive and that “there could be a Gaza deal next week”.

Trump is due to meet Netanyahu on Monday, and it is clear that he would very much like to be able to announce a significant breakthrough then.

The families of Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza will also once again be holding their breath.

Hostages’ relatives and thousands of their supporters attended a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to call for a comprehensive deal that would bring home all of the hostages.

Among those who spoke was Yechiel Yehoud. His daughter Arbel Yehoud was released from captivity during the last ceasefire, which Trump helped to broker before he took office and which collapsed when Israel resumed its offensive in March.

“President Trump, thank you for bringing our Arbel back to us. We will be indebted to you for the rest of our lives. Please don’t stop, please make a ‘big beautiful hostages deal’,” he said.

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel will send a delegation to Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the changes requested by Hamas to a ceasefire proposal were unacceptable.

Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit”, a few days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.

But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.

“The changes that Hamas seeks to make to the Qatari proposal were conveyed to us last night and are not acceptable to Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement late on Saturday.

The prime minister’s office added that the delegation will still fly to Qatar for talks over a possible deal to “continue the efforts to secure the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to.”

Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced Gaza’s entire population internally and prompted accusations of genocide and war crimes. Israel denies the accusations.

U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed for an agreement and will host Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to discuss a deal.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — U.S.-led ceasefire efforts in Gaza appeared to gain momentum Saturday after nearly 21 months of war, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel on Sunday will send a negotiating team to talks in Qatar.

The statement also asserted that Hamas was seeking “unacceptable” changes to the proposal. U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed for an agreement and will host Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to discuss a deal.

Inside Gaza, Israeli airstrikes killed 14 Palestinians and another 10 were killed while seeking food aid, hospital officials in the embattled enclave told The Associated Press. And two American aid workers with the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation were injured in an attack at a food distribution site, which the organization blamed on Hamas, without providing evidence.

Weary Palestinians expressed cautious hope after Hamas gave a “positive” response late Friday to the latest U.S. proposal for a 60-day truce but said further talks were needed on implementation.

“We are tired. Enough starvation, enough closure of crossing points. We want to sleep in calm where we don’t hear warplanes or drones or shelling,” said Jamalat Wadi, one of Gaza’s hundreds of thousands of displaced people, speaking in Deir al-Balah. She squinted in the sun during a summer heat wave of over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Hamas has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war’s end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the militant group’s destruction.

“Send a delegation with a full mandate to bring a comprehensive agreement to end the war and bring everyone back. No one must be left behind,” Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, told the weekly rally by relatives and supporters in Tel Aviv.

A Palestinian doctor and his 3 children killed

Israeli airstrikes struck tents in the crowded Muwasi area on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast, killing seven people including a Palestinian doctor and his three children, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Four others were killed in the town of Bani Suheila in southern Gaza. Three people were killed in three strikes in Khan Younis. Israel’s army did not immediately comment.

Separately, eight Palestinians were killed near a GHF aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, the hospital said. One Palestinian was killed near another GHF point in Rafah. It was not clear how far the Palestinians were from the sites.

GHF denied the killings happened near their sites. The organization has said no one has been shot at its sites, which are guarded by private contractors and can be accessed only by passing Israeli military positions hundreds of meters (yards) away.

The army had no immediate comment but has said it fires warning shots as a crowd-control measure and only aims at people when its troops are threatened.

Another Palestinian was killed waiting in crowds for aid trucks in eastern Khan Younis, officials at Nasser Hospital said. The United Nations and other international organizations have been bringing in their own supplies of aid since the war began. The incident did not appear to be connected to GHF operations.

Much of Gaza’s population of over 2 million now relies on international aid after the war has largely devastated agriculture and other food sources and left many people near famine. Crowds of Palestinians often wait for trucks and unload or loot their contents before they reach their destinations. The trucks must pass through areas under Israeli military control. Israel’s military did not immediately comment.

American aid workers injured

The GHF said the two American aid workers were injured on Saturday morning when assailants threw grenades at a distribution site in Khan Younis. The foundation said the injuries were not life-threatening. Israel’s military said it evacuated the workers for medical treatment.

The GHF — a U.S.- and Israeli-backed initiative meant to bypass the U.N. — distributes aid from four sites that are surrounded by Israeli troops. Three sites are in Gaza’s far south.

The U.N. and other humanitarian groups have rejected the GHF system, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and is not effective. Israel says Hamas has siphoned off aid delivered by the U.N., a claim the U.N. denies. Hamas has urged Palestinians not to cooperate with the GHF.

GHF, registered in Delaware, began distributing food in May to Palestinians, who say Israeli troops open fire almost every day toward crowds on roads heading to the distribution points.

Several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and witnesses. The U.N. human rights office says it has recorded 613 Palestinians killed within a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid, most of them while trying to reach GHF sites.

The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is led by medical professionals employed by the Hamas government. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

___

Kullab reported from Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was sending a team to Qatar Sunday for talks on a truce and hostage release in Gaza, after Hamas said it was ready to start negotiations “immediately”.

But Netanyahu, who is due to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, said the Palestinian Islamist group’s proposals for changes to a draft US-backed ceasefire deal were “unacceptable”.

Trump has been making a renewed push to end nearly 21 months of war in Gaza, where the civil defence agency said 42 people were killed in Israeli military operations on Saturday.

Hamas said Friday it was ready “to engage immediately and seriously” in negotiations, and was sending its responses to the truce proposal.

“The changes that Hamas is seeking to make in the Qatari proposal were conveyed to us last night and are unacceptable to Israel,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

“In light of an assessment of the situation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed that the invitation to proximity talks be accepted and that the contacts for the return of our hostages — on the basis of the Qatari proposal that Israel has agreed to — be continued,” the statement added.

Hamas has not publicly detailed its responses to the US-sponsored proposal, which was transmitted by mediators from Qatar and Egypt.

Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.

Trump, when asked about Hamas’s response aboard Air Force One, said: “That’s good. They haven’t briefed me on it. We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza.”

The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive in the territory that aimed to destroy the group and bring home all the hostages seized by Palestinian militants.

Two previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States secured temporary halts in fighting and the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

– ‘Comprehensive deal’ –

The Egyptian foreign ministry said Saturday that top diplomat Badr Abdelatty held a phone call with Washington’s main representative in the truce talks, Steve Witkoff, to discuss recent developments “and preparations for holding indirect meetings between the two parties concerned to reach an agreement”.

Meanwhile, at a weekly protest demanding the return of the hostages, Macabit Mayer, the aunt of captives Gali and Ziv Berman, called for a deal “that saves everyone”, without exception.

But recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.

The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.

Karima al-Ras, from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, said people were “happy that Hamas responded positively, and we hope that a truce will be announced” to allow in more aid.

“People are dying for flour, and young people are dying as they try to provide flour for their children,” she said.

A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.

The group said two of its US staff members were wounded “in a targeted terrorist attack” at one of its aid centres in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis on Saturday.

The Israeli military said it had evacuated the injured.

UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Friday that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.

– Civil defence says 42 killed –

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Israeli military operations killed 42 people across Gaza on Saturday.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates.

The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,338 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

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Originally published as Israel agrees to Gaza truce talks

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A Palestinian man inspecting the rubble following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on May 31.

CAIRO/JERUSALEM – Hamas said on May 31 it was seeking amendments to a US-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but US President Donald Trump’s envoy rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable”.

The Palestinian militant group said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

But Hamas reiterated demands for an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza – conditions Israel has rejected.

A Hamas official described the group’s response to the proposals from Mr Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Mr Steve Witkoff, as “positive” but said it was seeking some amendments.

The official did not elaborate on the changes being sought by the group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while his government had agreed to Mr Witkoff’s outline, Hamas was continuing its rejection of the plan.

“Israel will continue its action for the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he said in a statement.

Earlier on May 31, Hamas issued a statement saying: “This response aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip.”

The document containing Hamas’ response, seen by Reuters, demands that Gaza residents be allowed unrestricted travel through the Rafah crossing and that the movement of goods be resumed.

It calls for restoring Gaza’s infrastructure, including electricity, water and sanitation, and seeks permission for building materials needed to repair hospitals, health centres, schools, and bakeries across the Strip.

Under the Hamas plan, which the document says is guaranteed by Mr Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, Israel would stop all military activity in Gaza when the ceasefire agreement goes into effect, and aid would be delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels.

The Palestinian group said it would provide information about the number of living and deceased Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for details about Palestinian prisoners detained since Hamas attacked on Oct 7, 2023.

“President Trump will personally announce the ceasefire agreement. The US and President Trump are committed to ensuring serious negotiations until a final agreement is reached,” the document says.

The proposals envisage a 60-day truce and the exchange of 28 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, along with the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim denied any rejection of Mr Witkoff’s proposal but said Israel’s response was incompatible with what had been agreed, and accused the US envoy of acting with “complete bias” in favour of Israel.

A Palestinian official familiar with the talks told Reuters that among the amendments Hamas is seeking is the release of the hostages in three phases over the 60-day truce and more aid distribution in different areas.

Hamas also wants guarantees the deal will lead to a permanent ceasefire, the official said.

Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the complete disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.

Mr Trump said on May 30 he believed a ceasefire agreement was close after the latest proposals, and the White House said on May 29 that Israel had agreed to the terms.

Saying he had received Hamas’ response, Mr Witkoff wrote in a post on X: “It is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward. Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week.”

On May 31, the Israeli military said it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief on May 13, confirming what Mr Netanyahu said earlier this week.

Sinwar, the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel, was the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza.

Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death.

A cloud of smoke billowing from Israeli air strikes near a hospital in Gaza City on May 31. PHOTO: AFP

The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on May 31 it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza, including sniper posts and had killed what it said was the head of a Hamas weapons manufacturing site.

The campaign has cleared large areas along the boundaries of the Gaza Strip, squeezing the population of more than two million into an ever narrower section along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.

Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies entering the enclave at the beginning of March in an effort to weaken Hamas and has found itself under increasing pressure from an international community shocked by the desperate humanitarian situation the blockade has created.

On May 31, aid groups said dozens of World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people desperate for food after weeks of mounting hunger.

“After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by,” the WFP said in a statement.

‘A mockery’

The United Nations said on May 30 the situation in Gaza is the worst since the start of the war 19 months ago, with the entire population facing the risk of famine despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries earlier in May.

“The aid that’s being sent now makes a mockery of the mass tragedy unfolding under our watch,” Mr Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main UN relief organisation for Palestinians, said in a message on X.

Israel has been allowing a limited number of trucks from the WFP and other international groups to bring flour to bakeries in Gaza but deliveries have been hampered by repeated incidents of looting.

Palestinians carrying away aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on May 29, near an area of Gaza known as the Netzarim corridor. PHOTO: REUTERS

A separate system, run by a US-backed group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has been delivering meals and food packages at three designated distribution sites.

However, aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF, which they say is not neutral, and say the amount of aid allowed in falls far short of the needs of a population at risk of famine.

Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries, pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centres and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.

Instead, it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza, which it had been running since 2007.

Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.

Israel began its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.

The campaign has laid waste large areas of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians and destroying or damaging most of its buildings, leaving most of the population in makeshift shelters. REUTERS