Trump wrote on his Truth Social site that the US would work “with all parties” to end the war on Gaza during this ceasefire period, and called on Hamas to join the deal. His announcement came after an especially violent day in Gaza, where Israeli strikes destroyed clusters of homes in both the north and south, sparking fears of another massive ground invasion, according to an Al Jazeera report.
The attacks happened ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s planned visit to Washington, DC next week. Despite Trump’s claim that Netanyahu wants to end the war, Israeli forces are intensifying their offensive in Gaza.
Among those killed were 16 desperate aid seekers, shot dead while trying to collect food at aid distribution hubs run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by both the US and Israel. Medical sources reported that nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed at these distribution sites since GHF took over limited aid deliveries in late May, amid a crippling blockade.
More than 170 international charities and NGOs have demanded an immediate end to GHF operations, accusing it of violating core humanitarian principles. In a joint statement, they said, “Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families.” The statement added that GHF brings “nothing but starvation and gunfire to the people of Gaza.”
Israeli forces also bombarded Gaza City in the north, where forced evacuation orders have already turned entire neighborhoods into rubble. At least five people were killed when an Israeli quadcopter drone attacked a gathering, local agency Wafa reported.
The UN warned that at least 82 percent of Gaza is now either militarised or under forced displacement orders, leaving families with nowhere to escape. Ismail, a resident of Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City, described scenes of newly displaced families setting up tents on roads after fleeing bombardments. “We don’t sleep because of the sounds of explosions from tanks and planes. The occupation is destroying homes east of Gaza, in Jabalia and other places around us,” he said.
In Khan Younis and its al-Mawasi area, at least 12 people were killed after an airstrike on the al-Zanati family home. Elsewhere, a child was killed and several others wounded in a strike on a displacement camp. In central Gaza, several more died in an attack west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, while two people were killed in a separate assault on a UN-run school sheltering displaced families in al-Maghazi.
Read more: Israel accepts 60-day ceasefire in Gaza: Claims Trump
The Israeli army stated it carried out over 140 attacks in the past 24 hours, claiming all targets were “terror targets” and “militants”. Meanwhile, Gaza’s hospitals are overwhelmed and running out of supplies and fuel.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, described al-Shifa Hospital as on the brink of collapse. “Critical services at al-Shifa Hospital have either stopped or will stop in the coming hours as backup generators are running out of fuel,” Mahmoud reported. “This hospital was once the largest healthcare facility in Gaza, but has slowly turned into a waiting room for death, not just because of war wounds, but because of a lack of fuel that keeps everything running,” he added.
These brutal new attacks underscore the fragile and often contradictory reality behind ceasefire negotiations. While Trump’s announcement of a 60-day ceasefire aims to project hope, the ongoing violence suggests deep mistrust and unresolved issues on all sides. For Palestinians in Gaza, the choice between hunger and death becomes even more unbearable. If a real ceasefire fails to materialise soon, humanitarian catastrophe and regional instability could deepen further, fueling resentment and future cycles of violence.
