Hamas response to peace plan is awaited

HAMAS is still considering its response to United States President Donald Trump's peace proposal aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza, as Israeli strikes and gunfire on Wednesday night and early yesterday killed at least 41 Palestinians in the besieged territory.

- WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press

The plan, which has received wide international support, requires Hamas, the Gaza-based militant group, to release all remaining hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting.

However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sets no path to Palestinian statehood.

At least 27 people were killed by overnight Israeli fire in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital, in the city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies. Officials there said 14 of them were killed in an Israeli military corridor where there have been frequent shootings linked to the distribution of humanitarian aid.

Officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, said they had received 13 bodies after Israeli strikes.