Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip — An overnight Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, according to the Gaza health ministry run by Hamas. The strike came as officials said Arab mediators worked on a proposal to end the war with Hamas that would include a five-to-seven-year truce and the release of all remaining hostages.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the strike, which set several tents ablaze, burning people alive. The Israel Defense Forces says it only targets militants, and it blames all civilian deaths on Hamas, a U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group that Israel accuses of positioning fighters and weapons in densely populated areas.
Another six people were killed in separate strikes, including 5-year-old twin girls, health officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said.
France, Germany and Britain meanwhile said Israel’s seven-week blockade on all imports to Gaza, including food, was “intolerable,” in unusually strong criticism from three of the country’s closest allies.
Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/Anadolu via Getty Images 
Egypt and Qatar are still developing the latest peace proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas last month and has vowed to continue the war until all hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement President Trump’s proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which has been widely rejected internationally.
Hamas has said it will only release the dozens of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January. A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo late Tuesday to discuss the evolving proposal.
In a seeming bid to increase pressure on Israel, where regular protests have seen hostage family members and others demand that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a deal to bring home the remaining captives, Hamas released a video on Wednesday purportedly showing one of the surviving hostages appeal for help.
The three-minute video posted online by Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, shows a man who identifies himself as 48-year-old Omri Miran, an Israeli-Hungarian hostage, addressing the camera directly and acknowledging the protests in Israel. He says he and the other surviving hostages, of whom Israel believes there are 24, live in constant fear amid their own country’s ongoing bombing of Gaza, and he calls for an agreement to be struck as quickly as possible for their release.
Hamas has released a series of similar undated hostage videos, showing captives making appeals that have clearly been recorded under duress.
The Egyptian official said the latest proposed truce would include international guarantees and would last between five and seven years, and that a committee of politically independent technocrats would govern Gaza during that time – a measure Hamas has accepted.
The Hamas official who provided The Associated Press with the rough details of the proposal said the group was open to a long-term truce that includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and international guarantees, naming Russia, China, Turkey or the United Nations Security Council as possible guarantors.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials. Israel has ruled out any arrangement that would allow Hamas to preserve its influence in Gaza and rearm. The Trump administration, which has also been involved in the ceasefire talks, has said it fully supports Israel’s position.
Israel and the U.S. have pressed Hamas to accept a temporary truce in which it would immediately release several hostages in return for promises of talks on a more permanent ceasefire. Hamas has rejected those proposals and says it won’t disarm as long as Israel occupies Palestinian territory.
The Hamas official said the group does not trust Netanyahu or the U.S. after they shattered the last ceasefire agreement, which had facilitated the release of over 30 hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The Egyptian official said mediators had the impression that Mr. Trump wants a deal before he visits the region next month. Mr. Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13-16.
Israel ended the last ceasefire by launching a surprise bombardment across the territory that killed hundreds of Palestinians. IDF ground forces have since expanded a buffer zone along the border and encircled the southern city of Rafah, leaving them in control of around 50% of the narrow, densely populated territory.
Israel says the military operations and the tightened blockade are tactics to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Aid groups say thousands of children are malnourished and most people are surviving on one meal a day or less.
“The Israeli decision to block aid from entering Gaza is intolerable,” France, Germany and Britain said in their statement. They also condemned recent remarks by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, who said the blockade was a pressure tactic and that troops would hold parts of Gaza indefinitely.
“Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change. Israel is bound under international law to allow the unhindered passage of humanitarian aid,” the European statement said.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein rejected the criticism, disputing in a post on social media that there is any shortage of aid in Gaza. He claims Hamas seizes it for its own use, adding that Israel was entitled to block the aid.
In addition to the strike on the school, the Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, said it recovered four bodies from strikes on two homes in the same area. Another strike hit a home east of Gaza City, killing the twin girls, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.