Hamas weighs new US proposal amid Israeli raids in Gaza, reports of Muhammad Sinwar's death

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Thursday (May 29) it was reviewing a new ceasefire proposal from a US envoy, as Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip killed at least 44 people and deepened the humanitarian crisis gripping the besieged enclave.

Negotiations to end the 18-month war have repeatedly stalled, with no breakthrough since Israel resumed its offensive in March after a brief truce. However, US envoy Steve Witkoff expressed guarded optimism, saying on Wednesday (May 28) he expected to present a plan soon.

Hamas later confirmed it had “received Witkoff’s new proposal from the mediators and is currently studying it responsibly”.

The situation on the ground remains grim. Aid has begun trickling back into Gaza after more than two months of near-total blockade, but international agencies warn that food insecurity has reached catastrophic levels, with one in five people facing the risk of starvation.

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‘What is happening to us is degrading’

Israeli forces have intensified operations in recent days, saying the renewed push is aimed at dismantling Hamas’s infrastructure. AFP quoted Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir as saying that “44 people have been killed in Israeli raids”, including 23 in a single strike on a home in Al-Bureij.

He also reported that “two people were killed and several injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire this morning near the American aid centre in the Morag axis, southern Gaza Strip”.

That centre is part of a new aid delivery mechanism led by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), intended to bypass Hamas. While Israel says this system ensures aid does not fall into militant hands, the United Nations and European Union have criticised it for undermining long-standing UN-led efforts.

Many Gazans, including 60-year-old Sobhi Areef, have described chaotic and humiliating scenes. “What is happening to us is degrading. The crowding is humiliating us,” said Areef, who had visited a GHF centre in hopes of securing food. “We go there and risk our lives just to get a bag of flour to feed our children.”

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On Wednesday, hunger-fuelled desperation spilled into open chaos as thousands of Palestinians stormed a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Deir al-Balah. According to the UN agency, “hordes of hungry people broke into WFP’s Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution”.

Aid effort under fire

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, defended the GHF initiative during a Security Council session, accusing the UN of “trying to block” its work through “threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate”.

The UN insists it is facilitating the delivery of aid authorised by Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing, but noted that 47 people were wounded on Tuesday when a crowd surged at a GHF site. A local medical source reported at least one death. GHF, however, denied any fatalities or injuries, calling reports “several inaccuracies” and claiming “there are many parties who wish to see GHF fail”.

Among those affected is Abu Fawzi Faroukh, 60, who visited a GHF centre on Thursday. He described a harrowing situation. “The young men are the ones who have received aid first, yesterday and today, because they are young and can carry loads, but the old people and women cannot enter due to the crowding,” he said.

The Israeli military said an “employee of a contracting company that carries out engineering work” was killed in northern Gaza on Thursday. Separately, the army reported having struck “dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” over the past 24 hours.

Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi, speaking with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, accused Israel of deploying “systematic starvation tactics” which he said “have crossed all moral and legal boundaries”.

Rising toll

The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures. Of the 251 hostages taken, 57 remain in Gaza, with Israel saying 34 are confirmed dead.

Since Israel ended the most recent ceasefire on March 18, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reports that at least 3,986 people have been killed. The total death toll from the war now stands at 54,249, the vast majority of them civilians.