Mroue reported from Beirut.

Netanyahu told reporters the plan will begin “in coming days.”He said in a later phase, the “sterile zone” in southern Gaza would be free of Hamas and the population would be moved there “for the purposes of its safety.” There, they would receive aid, “and then they enter – and they don’t necessarily go back.”

Palestinian carry the bodies of their relatives including children who were killed in an Israeli army airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)Palestinian carry the bodies of their relatives including children who were killed in an Israeli army airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)The plan involves small number of distribution hubs directed by a private, U.S.-backed foundation known as

. Armed private contractors would guard the distribution.Israel says the system is needed because Hamas siphons off significant amounts of aid. The U.N. denies that claim.

Initially, four hubs are being built, one in central Gaza and three at the far southern end of the strip, where few people remain.

A GHF spokesman said the group would never participate in or support any form of forced relocation of civilians. The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s rules. said there was no limit to the number of sites and additional sites will open, including in the north, within the next month.In Kyiv, there was skepticism about Putin’s motives.

Peace “is not possible now. Only when (the Russians) run out of resources and army manpower. They are ready to fight, at least for this summer,” Svitlana Kyryliuk, 66, told The Associated Press. Putin will “stall for time, and that’s it,” she said.Volodymyr Lysytsia, a 45-year-old serviceman visiting the capital for rehabilitation, said Putin has made the front lines in eastern Ukraine a wasteland, with “nothing there, only scorched earth, everything bombed.”

Some were unconvinced by Putin’s promise to Trump that Russia is “ready to work with” Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining the framework for “a possible future peace treaty.”since the early weeks of