US President Donald Trump on Friday alleged that Hamas is unwilling for a ceasefire deal in Gaza as Israel suggested it might explore “alternative options” to rescue the hostages after the talks broke down., reported news agency AFP.While speaking to the agency, an Israeli official said that air drop of aid wounds in Gaza. The aids group working in the city have warned of the surging numbers of malnourished children in the ongoing warzone. After US and Israeli negotiators walked away from indirect negotiations with Hamas in Qatar, Trump commented on the situation, saying, “it was too bad. Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die,” reported news outlet.The US President stated that the Palestinian militant group was unwilling to release the remaining hostages in Gaza, explaining, “they know what happens after you get the final hostages.”Trump’s special envoy to the Middle-East Steve Witkoff claimed that Hamas was not “acting in good faith” during the negotiations that concluded on Thursday. In response, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim accused Witkoff of misrepresenting the nature of the talks and reneging on previously reached agreements.Witkoff likewise stated that Washington would “consider alternative options” regarding Gaza, though he did not specify what those might involve.Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir urged a return to a full aid blockade, the total occupation of Gaza, efforts to ‘encourage’ its residents to leave, and the restoration of Israeli settlements there. Qatar and Egypt, who are trying to meditate in the conflict, expressed hope that negotiations could still continue, pledging to persist with “intensive efforts” to achieve a long-sought breakthrough.
A deepening crisis
Over 100 aid and human rights organizations issued a warning this week about the growing threat of “mass starvation” in Gaza. Doctors without borders (MSF) reported that 25 percent of the young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women screened at its clinics last week were malnourished. This came just a day after the United Nations revealed that one in five children in Gaza City is experiencing malnutrition.The leaders of Britain, France and Germany, in a joint statement on Friday, said the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza “must end now”. “We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid” and facilitate the “urgent” work of UN agencies and humanitarian groups, the European leaders said, reported AFP.
