GAZA CITY, MAY 27 (V7N) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, May 26, 2025, vowed to bring back all hostages, "living and dead," as rescuers in Gaza reported that Israeli strikes killed at least 52 people in the war-battered Palestinian enclave.

Netanyahu's remarks came amidst confusion surrounding a proposed 70-day ceasefire that was intended to facilitate the release of 10 Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. "If we don't achieve it today, we will achieve it tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then the day after tomorrow. We are not giving up," Netanyahu stated regarding the return of captives, without explicitly mentioning the truce proposal. Militants seized 251 hostages during the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which ignited the war. Fifty-seven of these individuals remain in Gaza, with the Israeli military stating that 34 are dead.

Hamas had indicated on Monday its acceptance of a new ceasefire proposal presented by mediators and reportedly put forth by US envoy Steve Witkoff. However, a spokesman for Witkoff later denied Hamas's acceptance, with the US envoy telling Axios, "What I have seen from Hamas is disappointing and completely unacceptable."In Gaza, an early-morning Israeli strike on the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi school, which was sheltering displaced people, resulted in the deaths of "at least 33, with dozens injured, mostly children," according to Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defense agency. The Israeli military stated it had "struck key terrorists who were operating within a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre embedded" in the area, emphasizing that "numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians." Another Israeli strike killed at least 19 people in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Bassal added. The Gaza health ministry reported on Monday that at least 3,822 people have been killed in the territory since Israel ended a ceasefire on March 18, bringing the overall death toll of the war to 53,977, predominantly civilians. Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians.

The escalating conflict and its humanitarian impact have drawn international condemnation. European and Arab leaders, meeting in Spain over the weekend, called for an end to the "inhumane" and "senseless" war. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Sunday advocated for an arms embargo on Israel and demanded humanitarian aid to enter Gaza "massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel," describing the territory as humanity's "open wound."

In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced unusually strong criticism of Israel, stating, "I no longer understand what the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, with what goal." He added that the impact on Gazan civilians "can no longer be justified." Despite this, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul affirmed that Berlin would continue selling weapons to Israel.The Israeli military on Monday reported striking over "200 targets throughout the Gaza Strip" in the past 48 hours. They also detected three projectiles launched from Gaza towards Israel, with two falling in Gaza and one intercepted.Israel partially eased an aid blockade on Gaza last week, which had severely exacerbated widespread shortages of food and medicine.

COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body coordinating civilian affairs in Palestinian territories, stated that "170 trucks... carrying humanitarian aid including food, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical drugs were transferred" into Gaza on Monday.However, a top World Health Organization (WHO) official lamented on Monday that none of the agency's trucks with medical aid had been allowed into the Gaza Strip since Israel ended its blockade. Hanan Balkhy, WHO's Eastern Mediterranean regional director, stated that for more than 11 weeks, "there has been no WHO trucks entering into Gaza for medical care support," calling the situation "devastating."Additionally, the controversial US-backed group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced on Monday that it had begun distributing food aid in the territory, with plans for more trucks to be delivered. The UN reported that just five percent of Gaza's farmland is currently useable due to the war.

END/WD/RH/