Israel Kills At Least Nine Palestinians In Gaza As Cairo Ceasefire Talks Begin

Hamas said it reached “acceptable approaches” on “contentious issues” of a Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel after talks in Cairo, with Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem telling Anadolu that the discussions produced “acceptable approaches from the parties participating in the talks regarding the contentious issues of the ceasefire agreement.”

“Eight months into the Gaza ceasefire agreement that exists more on paper than on the ground, the past week saw the agreement’s terms continue to erode”

Al Jazeera

As Cairo talks began, an Israeli airstrike hit a Hamas-led police station in the Gaza Strip, killing at least nine Palestinians and wounding at least 20 others on Sunday, June 7, according to The Detroit News.

Al Jazeera

The Detroit News tied the strike to the ceasefire effort by reporting it occurred “amid new ceasefire talks” with Egypt hosting the talks.

Anadolu also described the ceasefire context as stalled on moving to a second phase, saying Qassem noted Hamas complied with the first phase while Israel “reneged on its commitments and continued violating the deal.”

The dispute over Gaza casualties continued as Le Temps reported that the Israeli army announced on Wednesday that 70,000 Gazans had died, as reported on Thursday by Haaretz, while the Gaza Health Ministry under Hamas’ authority said 71,667 Gazans had been killed by Israel since October 7, 2023.

Le Temps added that the Gaza tally “does not include people who died of hunger, illnesses worsened by the war, or those missing under the rubble,” while Israeli military officials estimated that “no healthy person has died of hunger” and rejected the proportion of civilians killed.

Anadolu Ajansı

Le Temps further reported that for the army, “no fewer than 25,000 of the 70,000 dead are Hamas terrorists,” and it cited that in August, three media outlets including two Israelis with access to Aman’s intelligence database reported that 83% of those killed were civilians.

In parallel, Al Jazeera’s weekly wrap said Israel pressed its hold on Gaza further during the past week, with Gaza’s Ministry of Health reporting strikes pushed the post-ceasefire death toll past 970 after an exchange of fire with Iran on Sunday.

Al Jazeera reported that Israel extended barriers of earth along an ever-widening “Yellow Line,” with residents and local monitoring networks saying Israeli forces dug land at al-Zaarba in southern Gaza’s Mawasi Rafah, levelled farmland south of Khan Younis, and planted rows of yellow concrete markers near Ard al-Limon and in Rafah’s al-Bardawil neighbourhood.

“This unpublished text presents the detail of the war crimes listed in “Well-Established International Crimes” War Crimes 1/ Deliberately directing attacks against the civilian population and civilian infrastructure”

Le Monde diplomatique

The same Al Jazeera wrap said Israel sealed Gaza’s last open crossings entirely immediately following the latest exchange of fire with Iran on Sunday, before announcing they would reopen on Tuesday.

It also described the humanitarian squeeze, saying the UN estimates that prices in Gaza are 235 percent above pre-October-2023 levels and that funding cuts are forcing aid groups to scale back food and water supplies.

Al Jazeera further reported that the UN said the killings unfolded against a collapsing humanitarian system, and it noted that “Israel’s Supreme Court struck down a blanket ban on Red Cross visits,” signaling a potential shift in access even as the “Yellow Line” expansion and demolitions continued.