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Strike as Talks Restart
An Israeli airstrike targeted a large tent encampment in the heart of Gaza City on Saturday, killing at least seven Palestinians including two women and wounding 15 others, according to health officials and medics.
“An official from a Palestinian faction said that the Egyptian capital Cairo will host today, Saturday, a meeting among the resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, with representatives from Hamas leadership and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Islamic Jihad, as well as the Reformist Current of Fatah, represented at the meeting by Samir Mashharawi”
Mediators restarted talks in Cairo with Hamas and other factions over safeguarding a strained ceasefire agreement, after a US-brokered ceasefire failed to halt Israeli attacks and left Israel in control of more than half the enclave after the war began with Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the Cairo discussions would focus on Israel’s implementation of the first phase and reaching common ground on proceeding toward the second phase, while Hamas told mediators, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, and envoys of Trump’s Board of Peace that ending Israeli attacks in Gaza was essential for any progress.
An Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters the military had carried out a strike targeting “terrorists,” but provided no further details.
Gaza health officials put the toll at nearly 73,000 people killed since the war started, with some 950 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since the truce began.
Hamas Demands and Israeli Claims
In Cairo, Hamas framed the talks around ending what it described as Israeli violations, reopening border crossings, and allowing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, with Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem saying the meetings would also address second-phase issues including proposals for the deployment of international forces and the disarmament of Palestinian factions.
Qassem said Hamas approached the negotiations with a sense of national responsibility and aimed to prevent a return to war in Gaza while protecting Palestinians in the enclave.
The Arab News account said Hamas wants Israel to end attacks, allow more aid into Gaza, and withdraw to the ceasefire lines, while Israel claims its strikes aim to thwart imminent attacks and that it allows aid and goods into Gaza.
The Straits Times reported that Hamas demands Israel end attacks and allow more aid, and that the existing US-brokered ceasefire failed to halt Israeli attacks, resulting in 950 Palestinian and four Israeli soldier deaths.
The New Arab added that Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 Israeli and foreign hostages in its October 7, 2023, attacks, as Israel said.
Second-Phase Deadlock
As negotiations in Cairo look toward the second phase, Anadolu Ajansı said the first phase included a truce and prisoner exchange between Israel and Palestinian factions, but Palestinian sources say Israel has continued to violate the agreement on a near-daily basis.
“- Hamas told mediators, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye, and envoys of Trump’s Board of Peace that ending Israeli attacks in Gaza was essential for any progress, sources from the group and officials close to the talks said CAIRO: An Israeli strike killed at least seven Palestinians, including two women, in Gaza on Saturday, health officials said, as mediators restarted talks in Cairo with Hamas and other factions over safeguarding a strained ceasefire agreement”
The same Anadolu Ajansı report said the second phase would involve further withdrawals from the territory while an international stabilization force assumes security responsibilities, including facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials.
Al Jazeera Net reported that a Hamas leader said the basis of the Cairo meetings is to obtain real and clear guarantees from the guarantors and representatives of the World Peace Council to implement the obligations of the first phase of the ceasefire and to stop the killings and daily shelling in the Strip.
Al Jazeera Net also said an Egyptian official familiar with the Cairo mediation described amendments being drafted to salvage the agreement, including obliging Israel to stop assassinations of leaders and members of the resistance in Gaza, and a clause about retreating from what was called the orange line under which the Israeli army had controlled 8% of the Strip.
The Arab News account said indirect talks on a second phase of the deal—including Hamas disarmament and Israeli troop withdrawals—have stalled, even as Egypt began hosting a new round of truce talks expected to last a few days.
