DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed 14 Palestinians in Gaza and another 10 were killed while seeking food aid, hospital officials in the embattled enclave told The Associated Press on Saturday, as U.S.-led ceasefire efforts appeared to gain momentum after nearly 21 months of war.

READ MORE: Hamas says it gave a ‘positive’ response to latest Gaza ceasefire proposal, but more talks needed

Two American aid workers with the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation were injured in southern Gaza in an attack at a food distribution site, which the recently created 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. President Donald Trump has pushed for an agreement and will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday to discuss a deal.

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.

WATCH: Desperation mounts in Gaza as Palestinians are killed while seeking food aid

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.

Tuesday’s joint statement from some of the world’s biggest charities and NGOs says the GHF is violating all norms of humanitarian work, including by forcing two million people into overcrowded and militarised zones where they face daily gunfire.

Since the GHF started operating in Gaza, there have been almost daily reports of Israeli forces killing people seeking aid at these sites, from medics, eyewitnesses and the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

On Tuesday, the ministry reported that a total of 583 people had been killed while seeking aid since 26 May, including 408 near the GHF’s distribution centres.

The GHF’s system replaced 400 aid distribution points that were operating during the last temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire with just four distribution sites located in Israeli militarised zones and run by US private security contractors – three in the far south-west of Gaza and one in central Gaza.

“Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the NGOs warn in their joint statement.

“Orphaned children and caregivers are among the dead, with children harmed in over half of the attacks on civilians at these sites.”

In response to the criticism, a GHF spokesperson said: “We’ve delivered more than 52 million meals in just five weeks. Not talking points, not headlines, but food reaching Palestinian families every single day.”

“Meanwhile, other organisations stand by helplessly as their aid is looted. We’ve offered to help them deliver it safely. They’ve refused.”

They added: “The humanitarian community must return to its core mission – feeding people – not protecting outdated systems or avoiding the discomfort of change.”

On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the GHF’s aid distribution system “inherently unsafe”, adding: “It is killing people.”

From the start the UN has opposed the plan, saying it would “militarise” aid, bypass the existing UN-led distribution network and force Gazans to make long journeys through dangerous territory to get food.

The Israeli military has said it is examining reports of civilians being “harmed” while approaching GHF aid distribution centres.

According to a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday, unnamed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers said they were ordered to shoot at unarmed civilians near aid distribution sites to drive them away or disperse them.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations “malicious falsehoods”.

The Israeli military also denied allegations of deliberately firing at Palestinians waiting to collect humanitarian aid.

In a statement on Monday, the IDF said it was reorganising access to the sites and this would include new “fencing” and signposting, including directional and warning signs in order to improve the operational response.

The GHF said in response to the Haaretz story that “there have been no incidents or fatalities at or in the immediate vicinity of any of our distribution sites”.

The 170-plus NGOs said the GHF’s system was “not a humanitarian response” for the Gazans.

“Amidst severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families tell us they are now too weak to compete for food rations,” the groups said.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 56,647 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.

DEIR AL BALAH: Israeli troops opened fire Saturday toward crowds of starving Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by a U.S.- and Israeli-backed group in southern Gaza, killing at least 32 people, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

The two incidents occurred near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In other violence, 11 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, health officials said.

The GHF launched operations in late May with backing from the U.S. and Israel. The United Nations had condemned Israel’s “weaponisation of food” against the Palestinians after a three-month-long blockade of humanitarian assistance, which was partially lifted only to replace the established aid distribution systems with the GHF. Rights groups and the UN had refused to cooperate with the GHF, slamming it as a “death trap” for Palestinians and accusing it of aiding Israel in its genocidal war in Gaza.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, called the GHF an “abomination” that has put Palestinians’ lives at risk, while a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, condemned the “weaponisation of food” in the territory.

Nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israeli attacks near aid distribution sites since the GHF started operations.

In the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, visited a Christian Palestinian village that was recently attacked by Israeli settlers and harshly criticized the violence.

‘Indiscriminate fire’

Most of Saturday’s deaths occurred as Palestinians massed in the Teina area, around three kilometers (2 miles) away from a GHF aid distribution center east of the city of Khan Younis.

Mahmoud Mokeimar, an eyewitness, said he was walking with masses of people — mostly young men — toward the food hub. Troops fired warning shots as the crowds advanced, before opening fire toward the marching people.

Amid the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli troops on Saturday opened fire toward crowds of Palestinians seeking food from distribution hubs run by a US-Israeli-backed group and 16 people were killed, PTI quoted witnesses and hospital officials as saying.

The incidents took place near hubs operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, added health officials.

In May 2024, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched operations with backing from the US and Israel.

The United States and Israel governments are seeking to replace the traditional UN-led aid distribution system in Gaza, saying that Hamas militants siphon off supplies, which the UN denies.

While the GHF says it has distributed millions of meals to hungry Palestinians, local health officials and witnesses say that hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli army fire as they try to reach the distribution hubs.

The Israeli Army – not at the sites but secures them from a distance – has said that it only fires warning shots if crowds get too close to its forces.

On the other hand, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said there have been no deadly shootings at its sites, though this week. But 20 people were killed at one of its locations, most of them in a stampede.

The GHF accused Hamas agitators of causing a panic, but gave no evidence to back the claim. The army and GHF did not immediately comment on Saturday’s violence.

Deaths in Gaza: The report said that the most of the deaths took place as Palestinians massed in the Teina area, around three kilometres away from a GHF aid distribution centre east of the city of Khan Younis.

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received 25 bodies, along with dozens wounded. Seven other people, including one woman, were killed in the Shakoush area, hundreds of metres north of another GHF hub in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the hospital said. The toll was also confirmed by the health ministry.

CNN —

Israeli troops opened fire on Gazans seeking food aid in the territory, killing at least 32 people, the Palestinian health ministry and witnesses said.

The ministry said that the bodies had been brought to Nasser Medical Complex, along with dozens of injured people.

CNN video from the hospital showed lines of bodies. One man, holding his dead son, said: “He just wanted to eat, what could I do?”

It’s unclear exactly where the shooting took place. One eyewitness, Hisham Dargam, said it had occurred some 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from an aid distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the controversial Israeli- and US-backed organization.

“Gunfire erupted from soldiers and tanks, as if they were in a battle with us,” he said.

The Israeli military said troops had “identified suspects who approached them during operational activity in the Rafah area” about one kilometer from the aid site “at night-time when it’s not active.”

The Israel Defense Forces said troops fire warning shots and was investigating reports of casualties.

The GHF denied there were any incidents “at or near” any of its distribution sites on Saturday.

“The reported IDF activity resulting in fatalities occurred hours before our sites opened and our understanding is most of the casualties occurred several kilometers away from the nearest GHF site,” it said. The GHF added that it had repeatedly warned those seeking aid not to travel to its sites overnight or in early morning hours.

However, many Gazans have told CNN that they have to travel to distribution points several hours before they open to have a chance of receiving aid. Food in the strip is scarce, and people are starving, according to multiple UN assessments.

Most Gazans also have no means of transportation to travel to GHF centers, so have to walk long distances to reach the sites.

Palestinians recite a prayer over a body at the Nasser hospital on July 19, 2025. AFP/Getty Images

A doctor at the Nasser hospital, Travis Melin, said that many of the victims Saturday had “severe” gunshot wounds to the torso and head.

Hundreds of people have been killed while trying to access aid in Gaza since the GHF – a private group – began operating in the Strip in May, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Nearly 800 people were killed in this way between late May and July 7, it said, 615 of whom were killed near GHF sites.

“Food here is a luxury of the privileged,” Dr. Melin told CNN. “If you’re lucky enough to have some money left, you’re the only people that can afford actual food. Everyone else is going to these massacre sites… even though they know it comes with this incredible amount of danger,” he added.

The director of communications for UNRWA, the United Nations agency that provides relief to Palestinian refugees, told CNN that the current aid distribution system in Gaza is a “death trap for starving Palestinians” calling for the organization to again be allowed to lead aid efforts.

Faltering ceasefire talks

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump struck an optimistic note regarding ongoing ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

“In Gaza, we got most of the hostages back,” he said on Friday evening. “We’re going to have another ten coming very shortly, and we hope to have that finished pretty quickly, and (Middle East Envoy) Steve Witkoff has been fantastic, he’s done a great job in that.”

Despite Trump’s positive outlook, the two parties to the conflict are again blaming one another for another faltering round of ceasefire talks, releasing statements on Friday accusing the other of dragging their feet in negotiations.

Hamas warned that it “cannot guarantee” that it will agree to any pauses to the conflict in the future if Israel does not agree to work towards a full end to the war in the current round of talks.

In the past, Israel has not been keen to agree to any permanent ceasefire, stating that it wants to continue fighting in the Gaza Strip until Hamas is eradicated.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida said that, if Israel does not comply with its demands, the militant group could also not guarantee that it would release 10 living hostages as a part of the ceasefire deal.

“It has become clear to us that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s government is not genuinely concerned about the captives, simply because they are soldiers,” he continued.

An Israeli official told reporters that one key sticking point in the talks is Hamas’ refusal to discuss what negotiators have dubbed the “release key” – the criteria and ratio through which individuals are identified for release in a swap – until there is a finalized agreement on where Israel will position its troops.

Israel is willing to be flexible in talks, the source said, accusing Hamas of “foot-dragging.”