TEL AVIV\/CAIRO
\nHamas said on Friday it was ready to start talks \u201cimmediately\u201d on a proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, after holding consultations with other Palestinian factions.
\n\u201cThe movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place\u201d the terms of a draft truce proposal received from mediators, the group said in a statement.
\nEarlier on Tuesday, Israel accepted the conditions needed to finalise a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties would work towards ending the war.
\nA source familiar with Hamas\u2019 position said the group was seeking guarantees that talks to end the war would take place during the 60-day truce, and that if no deal was reached by the end of that period, the pause in fighting would be extended till both sides come to terms.
\nMeanwhile, as US President Donald Trump said he expected Hamas to respond to his \u201cfinal proposal\u201d for a ceasefire in Gaza in the next 24 hours, at least 20 Palestinians were killed on Friday in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, according to local health officials.
\nHealth officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an air strike on a tent encampment west of the city around 2am, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by Israeli attacks.
\nA Gaza civil defence official said those killed included five who were shot while waiting for aid near a US-run site near Rafah in southern Gaza and several who were waiting for aid near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the centre of the territory.
\nThey were the latest in a spate of deaths near aid distribution centres in the devastated territory, which UN agencies have warned is on the brink of famine.
\nAt Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, crowds mourned 16 people killed on Thursday by what the civil defence agency said was shooting close to a nearby aid centre.
\nMedical aid charity Doctors Without Borders said Abdullah Hammad, who recently finished a contract working for it, was among those killed in Thursday\u2019s shooting.
\nIt said he was the 12th colleague the group had lost in the Gaza war.
\n\u201cWe demand an end to this bloodshed,\u201d MSF said in a statement.
\nMeanwhile, the the UN human rights office said it had recorded at least 613 killings both at aid points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near humanitarian convoys.
\n\u201cWe have recorded 613 killings, both at GHF points and near humanitarian convoys \u2014 this is a figure as of June 27. Since then \u2026 there have been further incidents,\u201d Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is yet to comment on Trump\u2019s ceasefire announcement. While some members of his right-wing coalition oppose a deal, others have indicated their support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEL AVIV\/CAIRO Hamas said on Friday it was ready to start talks \u201cimmediately\u201d on a proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, after holding consultations with other Palestinian factions. \u201cThe movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place\u201d the terms of a draft truce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-488661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n