Star Metro - Trump sees 'progress' on Gaza, raising hopes for ceasefire

"I think great progress is being made on Gaza," Trump told reporters ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands, adding that his special envoy Steve Witkoff had told him "Gaza is very close."

He linked his optimism about imminent "very good news" for the Gaza Strip to a ceasefire agreed on Tuesday between Israel and Hamas backer Iran to end their 12-day war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also suggested that Israel's blitz of Iran's nuclear and missile facilities, as well as its security forces linked to overseas militant groups, could help end the Gaza conflict.

Netanyahu faces growing calls from opposition politicians, relatives of hostages being held in Gaza and even members of his ruling coalition to bring an end to the fighting, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

Key mediator Qatar announced Tuesday that it would launch a new push for a ceasefire, with Hamas on Wednesday saying talks had "intensified".

"Our communications with the brother mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not stopped and have intensified in recent hours," Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

He cautioned, however, that the group had "not yet received any new proposals" to end the war.

The Israeli government declined to comment on any new ceasefire talks beyond saying that efforts to return Israeli hostages in Gaza were ongoing "on the battlefield and via negotiations".

- 'No clear purpose' -

Israel sent forces into Gaza to root out Iran-linked Hamas and rescue hostages after the Hamas attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's military campaign has killed at least 56,156 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

The latest Israeli military losses led to rare criticism of the war effort by the leader of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, a partner in Netanyahu's coalition government.

"I still don't understand why we are fighting there... Soldiers are getting killed all the time," lawmaker Moshe Gafni told a hearing in the Israeli parliament on Wednesday.

The slain soldiers were from the Israeli combat engineering corps and were conducting a reconnaissance mission in the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza when their vehicle was targeted with an explosive device, according to a military statement.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing relatives of those held in Gaza, endorsed Gafni's criticism of the war.

"On this difficult morning, Gafni tells it like it is... The war in Gaza has run its course, it is being conducted with no clear purpose and no concrete plan," the group said in a statement.

Of the 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the Hamas attack, 49 are still held in Gaza including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions due to Israeli restrictions, with near-daily deaths of people queuing for food aid.

- Gunfire near aid site -

Gaza's civil defence agency said Wednesday that Israeli fire killed at least another 20 people, including six who were waiting for aid.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that a crowd of aid-seekers was hit by Israeli "bullets and tank shells" in an area of central Gaza where Palestinians have gathered each night in the hope of collecting rations.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was "not aware of any incident this morning with casualties in the central Gaza Strip".

The United Nations on Tuesday condemned the "weaponisation of food" in Gaza and slammed a US- and Israeli-backed foundation that has largely replaced established humanitarian organisations there.

The privately run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was brought into the Palestinian territory at the end of May but its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes, deaths and neutrality concerns.

The GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points.

The Gaza health ministry says that since late May, nearly 550 people have been killed near aid centres while seeking scarce supplies.

The civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed 46 people waiting for aid on Tuesday.

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D.Cameron--SMC