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Local authorities reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted the Gaza Strip on Saturday, shortly after President Donald Trump requested a halt to the bombing, stating that Hamas was prepared to engage in peace discussions.
According to Reuters, six individuals were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza, as per local officials, while the Israel Defense Forces noted that much of the area is still a hazardous conflict zone.
One strike killed four people in a house in Gaza City while another killed two others in Khan Younis, authorities said.
These incidents followed an announcement from Hamas on Friday, stating its agreement to release all Israeli hostages, both living and deceased, and its willingness to negotiate using mediators on President Trump’s proposed 20-point peace plan.
Trump later said that Israel “must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza,” writing on Truth Social that Hamas was “ready for a lasting PEACE.”
Early Saturday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel was set to begin “immediately enacting the first stage of Trump’s plan to secure the release of all hostages.”
The nearly two-year conflict has left Gaza, which faces a dire humanitarian situation, largely devastated. The recent developments have instilled some hope among Gaza residents.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta told Reuters.
Nonetheless, the attacks have persisted in the enclave, and the Israel Defense Forces stated on Saturday that they continued to encircle Gaza City and warned that attempting to re-enter posed considerable danger.
“The area north of Wadi Gaza is still considered a dangerous combat zone,” Avichay raee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, said in a post on X, referring to a river valley that is considered an informal divider between the northern and southern halves of Gaza.
Israeli strikes killed at least 66 people and injured over 250 in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said Saturday, adding that the total death toll in the enclave had passed 67,000 after the addition of more than 700 people whose data had been verified.
Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, does not say how many of those killed were civilians versus combatants, but the United Nations and other independent experts consider its figures to be reliable.
It was unclear how many of the most recent deaths took place after Trump’s announcement.
The Ministry of Health reported two deaths of children due to famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition to 459, including 154 children, it said.
The U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, known as UNRWA, called on Israel to allow the flow of humanitarian aid to resume through the U.N.
The potential breakthrough with Hamas provides “a rare window of hope” to address the suffering of more than 2 million people “with unspeakable needs,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.
Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted.
Of the 48 hostages remaining in Gaza, Israel believes 20 are still alive. Under the plan proposed by Trump, Hamas would have three days to release them.
