Cairo. Israeli airstrikes on three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed at least 25 Palestinians and wounded many others, doctors reported Monday, as Egyptian and Qatari mediators were expected to hold a meeting in Cairo. new round of ceasefire talks with Hamas leaders.
In Gaza City, in the north of the strip, Israeli warplanes hit two houses, killing at least four people and wounding several more, health workers reported. A bombing of another house killed two brothers, they added.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the reports.
Speaking Monday at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Egypt had hopes for a proposed truce and release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, but who was waiting for a response from Israel and Hamas.
“We hope that the proposal has taken into account the positions of both parties, that it has led to restraint on both sides, and we are waiting for a final decision,” Shoukry said.
Asked about the new round of talks in Cairo, a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts told Reuters: “Things seem to be going better this time,” but declined to say whether a deal was imminent.
Israel has promised to eradicate Hamas, which controls Gaza, in a military operation in which more than 34,000 Palestinians have died, 34 of them in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza health authorities.
The war has displaced most of the 2.3 million inhabitants and devastated much of the enclave.
The conflict was triggered after an attack by Hamas militants against Israel on October 7 in which they killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostage, according to Israeli counts.
The assault on Rafah, which Israel says is the last Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip, has been anticipated for weeks, but foreign governments and the United Nations have expressed concern that such an action could lead to a humanitarian disaster, given the number of displaced people crowded into the area.
On Sunday, Hamas representatives said a delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya, the group’s deputy head in Gaza, would discuss a ceasefire proposal given by Hamas to mediators in Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel’s response. The mediators, backed by the United States, have intensified their efforts to close a deal.
Two Hamas members who spoke to Reuters did not reveal details of the latest proposals, but a source briefed on the talks told Reuters that the group is expected to respond to Israel’s truce proposal delivered on Saturday.
The source said this included an agreement to accept the release of fewer than 40 hostages in exchange for releasing Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and a second phase of a truce that includes a “period of sustained calm,” the compromise response of Israel to a Hamas demand for a permanent ceasefire.
After the first phase, Israel would allow free movement between southern and northern Gaza and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, according to the source.
A senior Hamas official told Reuters that Monday’s talks in Cairo will take place between the Hamas delegation and Qatari and Egyptian mediators to discuss observations the group has made about the Israeli response to its recent proposal.
“Hamas has some questions and inquiries about the Israeli response to its proposal, which the movement received from mediators on Friday,” he told Reuters.
The comments suggest that Hamas may not give an immediate response to mediators about Israel’s latest proposal.
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– 2024-05-07 12:19:27
