At least 36 Palestinians killed as Hamas ponders Trump peace plan

At least 36 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, local hospitals said, as questions churned about US President Donald Trump’s peace plan that could pause the nearly two-year war in Gaza.

Hamas announced it would review the proposal with group members and other Palestinian factions before reaching a decision.

Comments by Qatar, a key mediator, appeared to reflect Arab countries’ discontent over the text of the 20-point plan that the White House put out after Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced they had agreed on it Monday.

Three Arab officials told The Associated Press that changes had been made in the original proposal that Arab and Muslim countries had worked out with Mr Trump – changes in favour of Israel. The officials, who came from regional powers involved in the talks, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

The depth of the Arab countries’ discontent was not clear, and they have continued to express broad support for the plan. But Qatar’s comments indicated they could seek further negotiation over some of its terms – even as Mr Trump told reporters Tuesday that Hamas has “three or four days” to respond.

Arab mediators and Turkish officials are to meet with Hamas representatives on Tuesday in Doha to discuss the plan, said Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari.

While the proposal offers an end to the fighting in the strip and guarantees flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction, the Palestinian militant group will have to disarm while Gaza, and its more than two million Palestinians, would be put under international control, for the foreseeable future.

Mr Netanyahu backs the plan and several leaders of Arab countries have applauded it.

But many Palestinians in the war-torn coastal enclave are wary of the proposal.

“They want to impose their own peace,” Umm Mohammed, a history teacher who sheltered with her family in Gaza City, told the Associated Press.

“In fact, this is not a peace plan. It’s a surrender plan. It returns us to times of colonialism.”

Israelis visiting a memorial for the music festival where 364 people were killed during the Hamas attack on October 7 2023, expressed scepticism that the proposal may pause the war.

Amit Zander, whose daughter, Noa Zander, was killed at the festival, noted that Mr Trump was the only one with enough power to make a deal happen.

“Everyone pins their hopes on (Trump) … it’s up to Hamas. Israel wants it, and beyond that, it’s no longer in our hands,” he said.

At least 36 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday morning, according to local hospitals.

In Netzarim, the Israeli-controlled corridor that bisects northern and southern Gaza, 17 Palestinians were killed and 33 wounded while attempting to access humanitarian aid, al-Awda hospital said.

Separately, at least two Israeli strikes on tents in the region of Muwasi, previously deemed a safe zone by the Israeli military, killed 10 people.

Seven of whom had fled Gaza City earlier this month, to escape Israel’s widening offensive, were killed near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Al Aqsa hospital said.

The three others were members of the same family, a man, his seven-month pregnant wife, and their child, killed when an airstrike hit their tent west of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the shooting or strikes, saying its troops had killed several armed militants and struck more than 160 targets of Hamas infrastructure in the past 24 hours, including weapons storage facilities and observation posts.

Hamas is believed to be holding 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed by Israel to be alive. The militant group has previously demanded that Israel agree to end the war and withdraw from all of Gaza as part of any permanent ceasefire.

Gaza’s health ministry said in its daily report the death toll has surpassed 66,000, with almost 170,000 wounded since the war began.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run administration, does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.

Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the UN and many independent experts. Israel accuses Hamas of hiding its military infrastructure in civilian areas.

Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displacing about 90% of the population amid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed a freelance journalist working for Turkish broadcast outlet TRT.

Yahya Barzaq was killed in the besieged Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, the broadcaster said on its Instagram account.