Qatar says Hamas' response to Gaza truce proposal 'positive' as Israel continues to bomb enclave

Israeli media reported on Tuesday that military reservists had begun receiving callup notices, despite ongoing efforts by mediators to secure a ceasefire deal accepted by Hamas.

Israel's Channel 12 reported that call-up orders had been received "in preparation for the occupation of Gaza City". It added that tens of thousands of call-up orders will be sent in the coming days.

Egypt's al-Qahera News channel reported on Tuesday that senior Egyptian sources denied Israeli media reports that Cairo had volunteered to receive Hamas' weapons as part of a comprehensive plan for Gaza's future.

Israeli outlets, including the official broadcasting authority, had published reports saying that Egypt had proposed to take Hamas' weapons into its custody "for an indefinite period of time".

Egyptian sources familiar with the matter said that Israel has not responded to the mediators' proposal accepted by Hamas, even though it was received 24 hours ago. They indicated that Tel Aviv "faces a real test to rescue the captives". The Egyptian sources added, according to what was reported by Al-Qahera News on its website, that "the mediators' proposal accepted by Hamas will be guaranteed by the United States and sponsored by US President Donald Trump".

The sources indicated that "there is no way to release the detainees except through negotiations based on the proposal of US envoy Steve Witkoff," explaining that "the proposal guarantees a comprehensive deal leading to the release of all detainees". Earlier on Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty announced in a statement that "significant progress has been made" in the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza, noting that "the ball is now in Israel's court".

The Palestinian foreign ministry has urged the international community to take action to halt Israel's takeover of the Gaza Strip, which threatens to displace 900,000 Palestinians to the south of Gaza.

The ministry said that Israel's actions reveal the true nature of Israel's war on the Palestinian state and the unity of its territory.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said that they destroyed an Israeli military bulldozer.

The group said its fighters discovered the D9 bulldozer in the Manasra stadium, south of the Zeitoun neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon.
 

The United States continues to discuss a ceasefire proposal for a 60-day truce in
Gaza between Israel and Hamas that the Palestinian
group has accepted, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
said on Tuesday.

"I don't think it's a coincidence that Hamas accepted this proposal after the president of the United States posted a very
strong statement about this conflict on Truth Social yesterday," Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing at the White House.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's linking France's move to recognise a Palestinian state with antisemitism is "abject" and "erroneous", the Elysee has said.

Egypt has made calls for pressure on Israel to accept the Gaza ceasefire proposal on Tuesday, after Hamas said it reacted "positively" to the plan.

Badr Abdelatty, Egypt's top diplomat, said: "The ball is in Israel's court, and it must be pressured to agree to the proposal which would help mitigate the repercussions of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza."

Gaza's media office has decried the killing of Islam al-Komy, the latest Palestinian journalist to be killed by Israel in Gaza.

In a statement, the office said it condemned "the systematic targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation".

It also urged the international community to "condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upbraided President Emmanuel Macron in a letter seen by AFP Tuesday, blaming the French leader's move to recognise a Palestinian state for fuelling anti-semitism.

Late last month, Macron said France would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September, drawing a swift rebuke from Israel.

By announcing the move, France was set to join a growing list of nations to recognise statehood for the Palestinians since Israel launched a bombardment of Gaza nearly two years ago in response to Hamas's shock attack.

In the letter sent to Macron, Netanyahu said antisemitism had "surged" in France following the announcement.

"Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas's refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets," Netanyahu wrote in the letter.

The United Nations took aim Tuesday at Israel's months-long block on bringing tents into the Gaza Strip, despite continual displacement orders issued to civilians in the devastated territory.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said shelter items had been banned from entering Gaza for about five months -- a period when more than 700,000 people had been displaced or re-displaced.

"They may have been provided with a tent and then they are displaced again and they have no possibility of taking the tent with them," he told a press briefing in Geneva.

He said the Israelis could classify tents as "dual use" because they considered tent poles to have a potential military purpose.

Israel announced earlier this month that it intended to take over Gaza City and issued another displacement order to residents on Saturday.

Laerke said the order had not changed the situation on the ground and tents were still not being allowed into the territory.

Israel is reportedly demanding the release of all 50 captives held in Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan cited the prime minister's office as saying on Tuesday, as talks on a proposed deal envisaging a 60-day truce
and release of half the captives continue.

Israeli forces have arrested several Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency said on Tuesday.

During several raids near Tulkarem, they arrested six people, including three women, according to Wafa. They also apprehended the brother of the head of the village council of al-Maniya near Bethlehem.

Younis al-Khatib, president of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), said in a video that Palestinian humanitarian mission and aid workers have been deliberately targeted in the territories, saying they are targeted more than anywhere else.

"No state should enjoy impunity. No state should be above the law. The international community is obliged to protect humanitarians and to stop and to ensure protection for humanity," the NGO said on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day.

The PRCS also called on the international community to :take concrete action to protect humanitarians everywhere".

Dr. Younis Alkhatib, President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS):

On #WorldHumanitarianDay , we remind the world that Palestinian humanitarian workers have been deliberately targeted more than anywhere else.

No state should enjoy impunity. The international community… pic.twitter.com/daK5IJ5Zk0

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) August 19, 2025

Three Palestinians have died of malnutrition in the past 24 hours, medical sources said on Tuesday.

At least 263 Palestinians have now died of hunger and starvation in the war-battered enclave, where Israel has carried out a near-total siege.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson has made comments regarding the ongoing ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas.

Majed al-Ansari said that Doha and Egypt had received a "positive" response from Hamas to the Gaza ceasefire proposal.

Speaking from Doha, al-Ansari said the proposal includes "a 60-day provisional ceasefire during which a number of captives and prisoners would be swapped, Israeli forces in Gaza would be repositioned, and aid to Gaza would be increased," Al Jazeera reported.

The spokesperson said that the proposal was "almost identical" to that of US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s previous proposal.

Israel has yet to respond however, he said.

Al-Ansari however, said he can't be "so optimistic" due to Israel's lack of response, as no facts from Tel Aviv can be yet presented, therefore a "breakthrough can't be confirmed"

The UN's human rights office on Tuesday condemned a far-right Israeli minister for taunting Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti in his cell and sharing the footage online.

National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a video on Friday last week showing him confronting Barghouti, the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.

UN Human Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said the footage was unacceptable, adding: "The minister's behaviour and the publication of the footage constitute an attack on Barghouti's dignity."

Barghouti, now in his sixties, was sentenced in 2004 to life in prison on murder charges.

He often tops opinion polls of popular Palestinian leaders and is sometimes described by his supporters as the "Palestinian Mandela".

"International law requires that all those in detention be treated humanely, with dignity, and their human rights respected and protected," said Kheetan.

He warned that the minister's actions "may encourage violence against Palestinian detainees" and enable rights violations in Israeli prisons.

Mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that a Gaza truce proposal given the green light by Hamas was "almost identical" to an earlier version that Israel had agreed to.

Hamas gave a "very positive response, and it truly was almost identical to what the Israeli side had previously agreed to", said Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari.

Israel is studying Hamas' response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal, two officials said on Tuesday of a potential deal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the Israeli hostages still held in the battered
enclave.

Efforts to pause the fighting gained new momentum over the past week after Israel announced plans for a new offensive to seize control of Gaza City, and Egypt and Qatar have been pushing to restart indirect talks between the sides on a US-backed ceasefire plan.

The proposal includes the release of 200 Palestinian convicts jailed in Israel and an unspecified number of
imprisoned women and minors, in return for 10 living and 18 deceased hostages from Gaza, according to a Hamas official.

Israel is letting some supplies into the Gaza Strip but not enough to avert widespread
starvation, said the United Nations human rights office on Tuesday.

"In the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to enter in quantities that remain far below what would be required to avert widespread starvation," UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told a Geneva press briefing.

He added that the risk of starvation in Gaza was a "direct result of the Israeli government's policy of blocking
humanitarian aid. Israel's military agency that coordinates aid, COGAT, said Israel invests "considerable efforts" in aid distribution to Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese as a "weak politician" on Tuesday, amid an ongoing row between the two countries after Canberra declared it would recognise a Palestinian state.

"History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia's Jews," read a post on the official X account of Netanyahu's office.

US-based charity HEAL Palestine and other rights groups criticised the State Department's decision to stop visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, saying it will harm wounded children seeking medical treatment on short-term US visas.

The State Department said on Saturday it was halting all visitor visas for Gazans while it conducted "a full and
thorough" review, after far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer said Palestinian refugees were entering the US.

HEAL Palestine said there was no refugee resettlement programme as stated by Loomer and that the group's efforts were part of a medical treatment program. It also said the programme was run on donations and did not use US government money.

The charity sponsored and brought "severely injured children to the US on temporary visas for essential medical treatment not available at home," it said in a statement. "After their treatment is complete, the children and any accompanying family members return to the Middle East."

UNRWA's Philippe Lazzarini has paid tribute to members of staff killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day.

Lazzarini said nearly 360 staff members have been killed since the start of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, and hundreds more have been injured.

He added that nearly 50 personnel have been arrested by Israeli forces, with some tortured before their release.

"Our staff are however not giving up despite the hell they experience daily," he added.

 Israeli forces demolished a cafe in the village of Beit Sira, west of Ramallah, on Tuesday morning.

A large Israeli military force, accompanied by bulldozers, stormed the village and began demolishing the cafe belonging to Abdul Razzaq Muhammad Mustafa al-Hajj, amid a heavy deployment in the area.

Footage online showed bulldozers destructing the shop, amid an Israeli intensification of destroying Palestinian properties under the pretext that they are built without permits.

A five-year-old Palestinian boy has died in Adana, Turkey, due to complications from malnutrition and delays to his treatment, Palestinian media and activists reported.

Abdullah Abu Zarqa was visibly underweight before his death due to Israel's siege in the Gaza Strip, before his condition worsened rapidly due to medical evacuation delays.

In a video shared online weeks before his death, the five-year-old made a "I am hungry" plea as Israel's starvation campaign exacerbated hunger and malnutrition levels in the enclave. 

With deep sorrow, we bid farewell to the child Abdullah Abu Zarqa (5 years old), the boy whose heartbreaking cry "I am hungry" shook the world.
He passed away today in a hospital in Adana, Turkey, after his health deteriorated due to the severe shortage of medicines, tests, and… pic.twitter.com/j1V3ee7OTW

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) August 18, 2025

Cyprus has dispatched 1,200 metric tons of humanitarian aid for Gaza by sea via Ashdod in
Israel, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The pre-screened cargo would be transferred without additional security checks on arrival in Ashdod and with international humanitarian organisation World Central Kitchen the final contractor and distributor, the Cyprus Foreign Ministry said.

"The entire undertaking is under the auspices of the U.N. delivery mechanism," it said.