Israel pounds Gaza city as Hamas leader heads to Cairo to revive ceasefire talks
Israel pounds Gaza city as Hamas leader heads to Cairo to revive ceasefire talks
Israeli planes and tanks pounded eastern Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people, witnesses and medics said, as a senior Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for talks aimed at reviving a United States-backed ceasefire plan.
The latest round of indirect negotiations, held in Qatar in late July, ended in deadlock, with Israel and the Palestinian militant group trading blame over the failure to advance a US proposal for a 60-day truce and hostage release deal.
Since then, Israel has signalled it will launch a new offensive and seize control of Gaza City, which it captured shortly after the war’s outbreak in October 2023 before later withdrawing.
Hamas official Taher al-Nono said the group’s meetings with Egyptian officials, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, would focus on ways to halt the fighting, deliver urgent aid, and “end the suffering of our people in Gaza.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand military control over Gaza, expected to begin in October, has fuelled growing international criticism over the widespread destruction, mass displacement, and hunger facing Gaza’s 2.2 million residents.
The move has also drawn dissent within Israel. The country’s military chief of staff has warned it could endanger the remaining hostages and “prove a death trap” for Israeli soldiers. Rights groups and aid agencies have expressed concern over further displacement and hardship for the estimated one million Palestinians still in the Gaza City area.
The foreign ministers of 24 countries, including Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Japan, said in a joint statement that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached “unimaginable levels” and urged Israel to allow “unrestricted” aid into the enclave.
Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid but says it has increased delivery measures, including “pausing fighting for parts of the day in some areas” and establishing “protected routes for aid convoys.”
A Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediated ceasefire talks said Hamas was prepared to return to negotiations, and the leaders visiting Cairo would reaffirm that position.
“Hamas believes negotiation is the only way to end the war and is open to discuss any ideas that would secure an end to the war,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
However, the gaps between the two sides remain wide, particularly over the scale of any Israeli military withdrawal and demands for Hamas to disarm.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Tuesday that the Islamist movement was ready to give up governing Gaza to a non-partisan committee, but “it would not relinquish its arms before a Palestinian state is established.”
Netanyahu, whose far-right ultranationalist coalition partners have called for full Israeli control of Gaza, has repeatedly vowed that “the war will not end until Hamas is eradicated.”
Gaza’s health ministry said on Tuesday that 89 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire in the previous 24 hours. Witnesses and medics reported that Israeli bombardments overnight killed seven people in two houses in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, and another four in an apartment building in the city centre.
In southern Gaza, five people — including a couple and their child — were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Khan Younis, while another four died in a strike on a tent encampment in the coastal Mawasi area, medics said.
The Israeli military said it was “looking into the reports” of the latest bombardments, adding that its forces “take precautions to mitigate civilian harm.” It also said its operations over the past month had killed “dozens of militants” in northern Gaza and destroyed more tunnels used by armed groups.
The health ministry also reported that five more people, including two children, had died of starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 227 deaths — including 103 children — from those causes since the war began. Israel disputes the malnutrition fatality figures reported by the ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The war erupted on 7 October 2023 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has since killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
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