By Alastair McCready, Tim Hume and Usaid Siddiqui

    US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire in Gaza could be reached “within the next week” as Israeli attacks continue, with more than 60 people killed across the territory on Friday.

    Gaza’s Government Media Office says revelations in the Israeli media that soldiers were ordered to “deliberately shoot” starving Palestinians seeking aid supplies are further evidence of “war crimes” in Gaza.

    The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says aid distribution sites operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had created “a killing field”.

    Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 56,331 people and wounded 132,632, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.

    Israeli forces targeting Gaza’s so-called ‘safe zones’

    Israel has been pressing ahead with its military offensive across Gaza, with a particular focus on targeting civilians in areas that the Israeli military itself has designated as safe humanitarian zones, specifically in the al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza.

    Since dawn today, two makeshift tents have been targeted, resulting in at least four confirmed Palestinian deaths and six others injured.

    What is especially alarming is that rescue operations are still ongoing following an Israeli strike yesterday evening that hit a group of makeshift shelters in Gaza City.

    This strike buried at least 15 tents, and several rescue workers are still trying to recover more bodies trapped under the sand.

    This marks yet another bleak milestone in Israel’s ongoing war with residents feeling shattered sense of safety and are left wondering if anywhere in Gaza is truly safe.

    Despite Israel’s claims that its military campaign will continue until Hamas is fully defeated, misery on the ground is mounting, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.

    Trump is talking up a Gaza ceasefire, but major obstacles remain

    Al Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned in Israel and the occupied West Bank. 

    Donald Trump has said a ceasefire in Gaza could be achieved in a week. That’s welcome news to Palestinians in Gaza who continue to be bombed and starved nonstop. But there are actually no negotiations happening anywhere at the moment around this.

    What we do know is that talk of a ceasefire in Gaza has increased exponentially after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

    Israel does not want to talk about ending the war – in fact, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu would be risking a lot if he did. But there is an understanding, according to many reports, that Netanyahu would have to agree to some sort of ceasefire in exchange for the normalisation deals with other countries being talked about by the Trump administration.

    What Hamas would want, according to its statements, is first of all for the slaughter to end, but also for Israeli troops to withdraw from the areas they’ve taken in Gaza after Israel broke the ceasefire in March. Right now, they’ve taken up to 80 percent of Gaza.

    Hamas also wants US guarantees that negotiations would continue, and that Israel wouldn’t break the ceasefire again if more time were needed for negotiations.

    Tehran stages largest state funeral in decades

    We haven’t seen so many coffins on public display since the years of the Iran-Iraq war.

    Today’s state funeral in Tehran will honour 60 people killed in the 12-day war – military commanders, nuclear scientists, women and children, their portraits displayed on their coffins.

    The coffins are being carried on trucks. People are going and touching the coffins because they see the dead as martyrs, and touching them is a sign of blessing.

    The procession to honour the dead will continue for miles through central Tehran to Azadi Square. Some of the dead will then be buried in Tehran, while others will be laid to rest in their hometowns.

    For the Iranian government, those numbers are an important sign of the legitimacy of the establishment.