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Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City despite United States President Donald Trump’s appeal for it to end bombardments after Hamas partially accepted a ceasefire deal.
“It was a very violent night, during which the (Israeli army) carried out dozens of airstrikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the strip, despite President Trump’s call to halt the bombing,” civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
Bassal, whose agency is a rescue force which operates under Hamas authority, added that 20 homes were destroyed in the overnight bombardments.
Gaza City’s Baptist Hospital said in a statement that it received casualties from a strike on a home in the city’s Tuffah neighbourhood, including four dead and several wounded.
Gaza’s Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis said two children were killed and eight wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced Gazans.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said early on Saturday that Israel was preparing for an “immediate implementation” of the first stage of Trump’s Gaza plan for the release of Israeli hostages following Hamas’ response.
Shortly after, Israeli media reported that the country’s political echelon had instructed the military to reduce offensive activity in Gaza.
Hamas needs ‘clarification’ on peace proposal
Hamas said on Saturday it was ready to discuss freeing the Israeli hostages it holds in Gaza under the framework of Trump’s recent ceasefire plan, prompting the US president to call on Israel to stop bombing the Palestinian territory “immediately”.
Trump hailed the statement from Hamas as a sign it was committed to “lasting peace”, but the group made no mention of its own disarmament and maintained it should have a say in the Palestinian territory’s future — both key conditions of the proposal.
Hours earlier, Trump had given the group until Monday AEST to accept his 20-point plan or else face “all hell”.
“The movement announces its approval for the release of all hostages — living and remains — according to the exchange formula included in President Trump’s proposal,” Hamas said in a statement, adding it was ready to enter talks “to discuss the details”.
In the statement, it also agreed to hand over power in Gaza to a body of Palestinian technocrats — another element of the Trump proposal — but said it would “participate and contribute responsibly” in Palestinian discussions regarding the territory’s future.
Following the announcement, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi told the Agence France-Presse news agency the group welcomed Trump’s proposal, but called it “vague”, saying “we need clarification and confirmation through a negotiated agreement”.
Hamas was not involved in the negotiations that led to Trump’s proposal.
Trump tells Israel to ‘immediately’ stop bombing of Gaza
In a post on his Truth Social platform shortly after Hamas’ announcement, Trump said he believed the group was “ready for a lasting PEACE”.
“Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the hostages out safely and quickly!” he added.
Trump’s proposal calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’ disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The plan demands the disarmament of Hamas, and insists that it and other factions “not have any role in the governance of Gaza”.
Administration of the territory would be taken up by a technocratic body overseen by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed progress on the Gaza peace plan in a post to X on Saturday.
Albanese said Australia had consistently been part of calls for a ceasefire, hostage release and unimpeded aid with the humanitarian situation in Gaza at catastrophic levels.
“I reiterate our call on Hamas to agree to the plan, lay down its arms and release all remaining hostages without delay,” he said in the statement.
Albanese said Australia would continue to support peace efforts and a two-state solution, where Israeli and Palestinian states could exist side by side.
‘Places of death’
Netanyahu’s office said Israel “will continue to work in full cooperation with Trump and his team to end the war in accordance with the principles set out by Israel, which align with President Trump’s vision.”
Before Israel’s latest announcements, families of those being held by Hamas in Gaza called on Netanyahu “to immediately order negotiations for the return of all hostages.”
Domestically, the prime minister is caught between growing pressure to end the war — from hostage families and a war-weary public — and demands from hardline members of his far-right coalition who insist there must be no let-up in Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
The UN on Friday reiterated there was no safe place in Gaza and that Israel-designated zones in the south were “places of death”.
“The notion of a safe zone in the south is farcical,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said.
“Yet, today, a further 200,000 civilians have been warned to leave Gaza City, in addition to more than 400,000 people who have been forced to move south.”
Amnesty International condemned a “catastrophic wave of mass displacement” as Israel intensified its Gaza City offensive.
The rights group said hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom had already been displaced multiple times, were being forced into “overcrowded enclaves in the south … that lack access to clean water, food, medical care, shelter and life-sustaining infrastructure”.
As the war nears the two-year mark and the death toll continues to rise, protesters around the world have railed at Israel’s interception of a flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for Gaza.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack, in which more than 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government.
The October 7 attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
