Hamas considers US ceasefire plan for Gaza – Middle East live | Israel-Gaza war
Key events
Saudi priority is Gaza ceasefire, not normalising ties with Israel, Minister says
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said on Friday when asked about the possibility of normalising ties with Israel that the kingdom’s current priority is reaching a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
He was speaking during a visit to Moscow.
The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that it had recorded at least 613 killings both at aid points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near humanitarian convoys.
“We have recorded 613 killings, both at GHF points and near humanitarian convoys – this is a figure as of June 27. Since then … there have been further incidents,” Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza early on Friday, while another 20 people died in shootings while waiting for aid, the hospital morgue that received their bodies told The Associated Press.
At least 15 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, including eight women and one child. Another 20 were shot while waiting for aid, according to Nasser Hospital, including two who were killed near distribution sites in Rafah and 18 who were waiting for trucks to deliver supplies elsewhere in southern Gaza.
The recent killings took place as efforts to halt the 21-month war appeared to be moving forward.
Hamas said Friday that it was holding discussions with leaders of other Palestinian factions to discuss a ceasefire proposal presented to it by Egyptian and Qatari mediators. The Health Ministry in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory has passed 57,000. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
Matthew Cassel
In the third and final episode of Along the Green Line, reporter Matthew Cassel heads to the south of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Amid the deadliest chapter in the history of this conflict, we visit the kibbutz of Kfar Aza to witness the evolving legacy of the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants, and get as close to Gaza as is possible for foreign journalists.
In this three-part series, we’re traveling along the 1949 armistice line or ‘green line’ – once seen as the best hope for a resolution – and meeting Palestinians and Israelis living just miles apart
Nasser hospital in Gaza is operating as “one massive trauma ward” due to an influx of patients injured at non-United Nations food distribution sites, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
“They’ve seen already for weeks, daily injuries … and (the) majority coming from the so-called safe non-UN food distribution sites. The hospital is now operating as one massive trauma ward,” Rik Peeperkorn told reporters in Geneva.
FlyDubai became the first international carrier to land at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport on Friday at the end of a 20-day suspension of flights that was imposed due to Israeli attacks on Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The arrival of Flight FZ1930 at Iran’s biggest airport from the airline’s base in the United Arab Emirates marked the start of a gradual return to normal operations in Iranian airspace, IRNA said.
FlyDubai is a low-cost carrier and a sister airline to Emirates.
Local authorities described the landing as a sign of restored stability and effective crisis management in the country’s aviation sector. Passenger services were carried out under full safety and security protocols, IRNA reported.
International and domestic air traffic had been halted following Israeli airstrikes and heightened security concerns across Iranian skies.
Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir told AFP that seven people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli air strike overnight on displaced people’s tents near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
Mughayyir said eight more people were killed in two other strikes on tent encampments on the coast of Khan Yunis, including one that killed two children early Friday.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific attacks without precise coordinates, but noted it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities”.
Palestinians inspect at the site of Thursday’s Israeli strike that damaged and destroyed residential buildings, at Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City, July 4, 2025. Photograph: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
Followers of the Baha’i faith – a small but global religion with an interfaith credo – are facing repression in several Middle East nations, particularly Iran, that is drawing criticism from human rights groups.
The abuse is most evident in Iran, which bans the faith and has been widely accused of persecuting its adherents, human rights advocates say. They also report systemic discrimination in Yemen, Qatar and Egypt.
Iran has been a driving force in the spread of anti-Baha’i repression in countries where it holds influence, advocates say – a plan first made public in a leaked 1991 government document. These include Yemen, where Iran backs Houthi rebels who control much of the country, and Qatar, where links include co-ownership of the world’s largest natural gas field.
“The sheer arsenal the Iranian government has expended to crush the Baha’is in every avenue of life has been astronomical,” said Nazila Ghanea, an Oxford University law professor and U.N. Special Rapporteur on religious freedom. “It has also extended its reach, time and again, beyond the border of Iran,” she said.
Israeli military to ‘ensure that Iran cannot threaten Israel again’, minister says
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Friday said the army had a plan to prevent Iran from threatening Israel again after the arch-foes fought a 12-day war last month.
The Israeli military will prepare an “enforcement plan to ensure that Iran cannot threaten Israel again”, Katz said in a statement, adding that “the army must prepare on the intelligence and operational level to ensure that the Air Force maintains air superiority over Tehran”.
Hezbollah has begun a major strategic review in the wake of its devastating war with Israel, including considering scaling back its role as an armed movement without disarming completely, three sources familiar with the deliberations say.
The internal discussions, which Reuters reports aren’t yet finalised and haven’t previously been reported, reflect the formidable pressures the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group has faced since a truce was reached in late November.
Israeli forces continue to strike areas where the group holds sway, accusing Hezbollah of ceasefire violations, which it denies. It is also grappling with acute financial strains, US demands for its disarmament and diminished political clout since a new cabinet took office in February with U.S. support.
Jason Burke
Hamas leaders are close to accepting a proposed deal for a ceasefire in Gaza but want stronger guarantees that any pause in hostilities would lead to a permanent end to the 20-month war, sources close to the militant Islamist organisation have said.
Hamas officials met on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the ceasefire proposals and later issued a statement confirming they were talking to other “Palestinian factions” before formally announcing a response.
The militant Islamist group has come under immense pressure in recent months, with its military leadership decimated and the Israeli military forcing its fighters out of former strongholds in the southern and central parts of Gaza.
Read our report from Jerusalem on the Gaza ceasefire talks:
Opening summary: Hamas discusses ceasefire proposal
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war as Hamas said it was discussing a ceasefire proposal put forward by the US with other Palestinian factions. In a statement early on Friday morning it said would submit its response to mediators once those talks conclude. Hamas is seeking clear guarantees that the ceasefire will eventually lead to the war’s end, a source close to the group told Reuters.
Meanwhile a senior Israeli official close to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the news wire that preparations were in place to approve a ceasefire deal. A separate source familiar with the matter said that Israel was expecting Hamas’ response by Friday and that if it was positive, an Israeli delegation would join indirect talks to cement the deal.
Donald Trump also said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours whether the Palestinian militant group had agreed to accept what he has called a “final proposal” for a ceasefire in Gaza. The US president also said he had spoken to Saudi Arabia about expanding the Abraham Accords, the deal on normalization of ties that his administration negotiated between Israel and some Gulf countries during his first term.
Trump was asked on Friday if Hamas had agreed to the latest ceasefire deal framework, and said: “We’ll see what happens, we are going to know over the next 24 hours.”
In other developments:
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When asked by a reporter on Thursday whether he still wanted the US to take over Gaza, Trump said: “I want the people of Gaza to be safe more importantly.” He added: “They’ve gone through hell.” Trump first floated his plan for a “Riviera of the Middle East”, which included ethnically cleansing Gaza, in February.
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At least 73 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday including 15 killed in an attack on a school, Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said. Those killed included 38 people waiting for humanitarian aid at three separate locations in central and southern Gaza, and a child killed by a drone in Jabalia in the north.
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Israel has escalated its offensive in Gaza before the imminent ceasefire talks, with warships and artillery launching one of the deadliest and most intense bombardments in the devastated Palestinian territory for many months this week. In all, about 300 people may have been killed this week and thousands more injured, according to officials.
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Among those targeted by Israel was one of Gaza’s most senior doctors, Dr Marwan al-Sultan. Tributes were paid on Thursday to the renowned cardiologist and director of the Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip, who was killed alongside several members of his family. He was the 70th healthcare worker to be killed by Israeli attacks in the last 50 days, according to Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), a Palestinian medical organisation.
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The UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories has called for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel and for global corporations to be held accountable for “profiting from genocide” in Gaza. A report by Francesca Albanese to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday pointed to the deep involvement of companies from around the world in supporting Israel during its 21-month onslaught in Gaza.
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Iran on Thursday affirmed its commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, as it accused Germany of “malice” over its criticism of Tehran’s decision to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. “Iran remains committed to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and its Safeguards Agreement,” foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X. “The explicit German support for the bombing of Iran has obliterated the notion that the German regime harbors anything but malice towards Iranians,” he added in response to a German foreign office post criticising the move.
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The producer of a film about medics in Gaza that was dropped by the BBC has accused the corporation of trying to gag him and others over its decision not to show the documentary. Gaza: Doctors under Attack, which was finally broadcast on Channel 4 on Wednesday night, recounts how hospitals in the territory have been overwhelmed, bombed and raided. Ben de Pear, the programme’s executive producer and a former Channel 4 News editor, accused the BBC of attempting to stop him talking about its “painful journey” to the screen with the use of legal gagging clauses.
