A smoke plume rises following an Israeli air strike on a building in eastern Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday — AFP JERUSALEM, June 25 (AFP): US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that "great progress" was being made to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as a new ceasefire push began more than 20 months since the start of the conflict.
"I think great progress is being made on Gaza," Trump told reporters ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands, adding that his special envoy Steve Witkoff had told him "Gaza is very close."
He linked his optimism about imminent "very good news" for the Gaza Strip to a ceasefire agreed on Tuesday between Israel and Hamas backer Iran to end their 12-day war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also suggested that Israel's blitz of Iran's nuclear and missile facilities, as well as its security forces linked to overseas militant groups, could help end the Gaza conflict.
Netanyahu faces growing calls from opposition politicians, relatives of hostages being held in Gaza and even members of his ruling coalition to bring an end to the fighting, triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.
In one of the war's deadliest incidents for the Israeli army, it said seven of its soldiers were killed on Tuesday in southern Gaza.
Key mediator Qatar announced Tuesday that it would launch a new push for a ceasefire, with Hamas on Wednesday saying talks had "intensified".
"Our communications with the brother mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not stopped and have intensified in recent hours," Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.
He cautioned, however, that the group had "not yet received any new proposals" to end the war.
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed at least 20 people on Wednesday, including six who were waiting to collect food aid in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
The latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid distribution sites came after the United Nations had condemned the "weaponisation of food" in the Gaza Strip, where a US- and Israeli-backed foundation has largely replaced established humanitarian organisations.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that six people were killed and 30 others wounded "following Israeli fire targeting thousands of civilians waiting for aid" in an area of central Gaza where Palestinians have gathered each night in the hope of collecting food rations.
Bassal said the crowd was hit by Israeli "bullets and tank shells".
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was "looking into" the report.
Israeli army says seven
soldiers killed in Gaza
Israel's army on Wednesday said seven of its soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, where the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas continued.
The army's website listed the names of five soldiers and a platoon commander from the same battalion who "fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip".
It added that a seventh soldier was also killed, but his family had not given permission for him to be named.
More than 430 Israeli soldiers have died in the war, triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages -- 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,077 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
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