It's not us holding back Gaza peace deal, Hamas tells West

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday the Palestinian militant group frowns upon Washington and the West's calls for it to accept the Gaza peace proposal "as if it is Hamas who is hampering the deal."

In comments reported by Hamas media, Abu Zuhri said Israel is not serious about reaching a deal in Gaza and is still maneuvering under the U.S.' cover.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest coalition partner has said it would lend "full support" for a prospective deal to free hostages from Hamas captivity even if that would entail "far-reaching steps."

The statement by Shas, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party that holds 11 of the parliament's 120 seats, followed open opposition to such a deal by two far-right coalition partners.

'Unnecessary and disproportionate force'

The UN human rights office called on Tuesday for an end to violence in which it said Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers have killed more than 500 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

It said in a statement Israel had used "unnecessary and disproportionate" force in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and condemned what it said was the systematic denial of medical aid. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN statement.

Violence has surged in the West Bank since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 last year that triggered Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which the Gaza health ministry says has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians.

Israeli security forces have in recent months cracked down in the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza, and made thousands of arrests.

Israeli officials have said previously that they are acting to prevent an inflammation of long-running violence in the West Bank, including by Hamas militants, and to prevent attacks on Israel.

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UN human rights monitors studied 80 cases in-depth among 505 documented deaths of Palestinians in the West Bank since the October 7 attack, in which Israel said about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were abducted.

The cases studied showed "consistent violations of international human rights law on the use of force by the ISF (Israeli security forces) through unnecessary and disproportionate use of lethal force and an increase in apparently planned targeted killings," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

In the same period, 24 Israelis were killed in clashes or reported attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank, the UN statement said.

'Pervasive impunity'

Some of the Palestinians killed in the West Bank were children armed with stones or firecrackers and "clearly did not represent an imminent threat to life," it added. It did not say how many Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank by settlers and how many by Israeli forces.

The high number of those who died after being shot in the upper part of the body, along with the denial of medical assistance to the injured, suggested an intent to kill, it said.

"Pervasive impunity for such crimes has been commonplace for far too long in the occupied West Bank. Such impunity has created an enabling environment for more and more unlawful killings by the ISF," Turk said.

Hamas runs Gaza and is opposed to coexistence with Israel. The Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank.

Settler violence is a source of growing concern among Israel's Western allies. A number of countries, including the United States, have imposed sanctions on violent settlers and urged Israel to do more to stop the violence.

'We want a clear indication'

Qatar, which has been mediating on Gaza between Israel and Hamas, stressed on Tuesday there should be a clear position from both parties to reach a ceasefire deal.

"We are waiting for a clear Israeli position that represents the entire government in response to the U.S.' Gaza proposal," said Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari.

"The ceasefire deal should immediately end the long suffering of all people in Gaza and the hostages and their families and provide a roadmap for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the crisis." Qatar said that it is still waiting to reach language that is agreed by both parties.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal from Israel to Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to end the war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.

The offer calls for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

"Lack of food for children"

Palestinians displaced by the Gaza war are living in "appalling" conditions, with children sometimes going for a whole day without food and thousands sharing the same toilet, Oxfam warned on Tuesday.

Deadly Israeli bombardment and fighting has raged in the Gaza Strip's far-southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border in recent weeks, again displacing those who had fled there in search of safety.

More than one million people have fled Rafah for other areas, according to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA. Oxfam said more than two-thirds of Gaza's population is estimated to be crammed into less than a fifth of the besieged territory.

"Despite Israeli assurances that full support would be provided for people fleeing, most of Gaza has been deprived of humanitarian aid, as famine inches closer," the aid agency said.

"A food survey by aid agencies in May found that 85 per cent of children did not eat for a whole day at least once in the three days before the survey was conducted," it added.

Since Israeli troops launched their ground assault on Rafah on May 6, an average of eight aid trucks per day have entered, Oxfam said, citing UN figures.

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