Hamas Suggests It Would Negotiate Ceasefire Terms

Hamas said Friday it has given a "positive" response to the latest proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza but said further talks were needed on implementation. It was not clear if that meant the militant group had accepted the US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, the AP reports. "The movement is ready in all seriousness to enter immediately into a round of negotiations on the mechanism to implement this framework," it said without elaborating. Hamas has been seeking guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war, now nearly 21 months old. Also on Friday, Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza, while a hospital said another 20 people died in shootings while seeking aid. Developments on the aid shootings include:

• UN count: The UN human rights office says it has recorded 613 Palestinians killed within the span of a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid. Most were killed while trying to reach food distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization, while others were massed waiting for aid trucks connected to the United Nations or other humanitarian organizations, it said.
• Blame: Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said "it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points" operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. In a message to the AP, Shamdasani said that of the total tallied, 509 killings were "GHF-related," meaning at or near its distribution sites. "Information keeps coming in," she added. "This is ongoing and it is unacceptable."
• Organization's response: The GHF has denied any serious injuries or deaths on its sites and says shootings outside their immediate vicinity are under the purview of Israel's military. In a statement Friday, GHF cast doubt on the casualty figures and accused the UN of trying "to falsely smear our effort." The army says it fires warnings shots as a crowd control measure or opens fire if its troops are threatened.
• Sources: In its statement, the GHF accused the UN of taking its casualty figures "directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry" and of "promoting Hamas' false propaganda." Shamdasani told the AP that the data "is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical, human rights and humanitarian organizations."
• Israel's response: In reaction to the UN report, the Israeli military said that it was investigating reports of people killed and wounded while seeking aid and that it had given instructions to troops in the field based on "lessons learned" from reviewing the incidents. It said it was working at "minimizing possible friction between the population" and Israeli forces, including by installing fences and placing signs on the routes.