Israeli airstrikes killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza early on Friday, while a hospital said another 20 people died in shootings while waiting for aid.

Meanwhile, the U.N. human rights office says it has recorded 613 killings in Gaza near humanitarian convoys and as Palestinians try to reach aid at distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization since it first began operations in late May.

Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Friday that Damascus was willing to cooperate with Washington to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel.

In a statement following a phone call with his American counterpart Marco Rubio, Shaibani said he expressed Syria's "aspiration to cooperate with the United States to return to the 1974 disengagement agreement".

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he wanted "safety" for people in Gaza, as he prepares to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week to push for a ceasefire.

"I want the people of Gaza to be safe more importantly," Trump told reporters when asked if he still wanted the US to take over the Palestinian territory as he announced in February.

American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press.

Two U.S. contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were revealing their employers' internal operations, said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous and irresponsible practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open license to do whatever they wished.

A Kurdish militant group that has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey announced Thursday its fighters in northern Iraq will begin handing over their weapons, marking the first concrete step toward disarmament as part of a peace process.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities. The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm.

Hamas and Israel staked out their positions Wednesday ahead of expected talks on a Washington-backed ceasefire proposal, with the militant group suggesting it was open to an agreement while the Israeli prime minister vowed that "there will be no Hamas" in postwar Gaza.

Both sides stopped short of accepting the proposal announced Tuesday by U.S. President Donald Trump. Hamas insisted on its longstanding position that any deal bring an end to the war in Gaza.

U.S. President Donald Trump says Israel has agreed on terms for a new 60-day ceasefire with Hamas and that Washington would work with both sides during that time to try to end more than 20 months of war in Gaza.

Neither side has accepted the proposal announced Tuesday by Trump, who has admonished Hamas that if the militant group does not buy into the offer, its prospects will get worse. It's not clear what conditions Israel agreed to.

Airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 45 who were attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on the strikes.

Syrian state media reported Wednesday that statements on signing a peace deal with Israel were "premature", days after Israel said it was interested in striking a normalization agreement with Damascus.

"Statements concerning signing a peace agreement with the Israeli occupation at this time are considered premature," state TV reported an unidentified official source as saying.

Palestinian militant group Hamas said Wednesday it was discussing proposals from mediators for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, after U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed to a 60-day truce.