GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, August 8, 2024 Agence France Presse: Israel agreed to resume ceasefire talks in Gaza on August 15 at the request of US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said. on Thursday, as tensions in the region increased. the war.
Gaza's Hamas-run civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes killed more than 18 people in strikes on two schools on Thursday, as it accused Israel of seeking to spread war in the Middle East. Iran is east.
After a week-long truce in November, US, Qatari and Egyptian negotiators tried to secure a second ceasefire in the 10-month war sparked by Hamas' unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the leaders of the three countries invited the warring parties to resume talks on August 15 in Doha or Cairo “to close the remaining gaps and start implementing the agreement without delay.” no more.”
“The framework agreement is now on the table, with only the implementation details to be finalized, and the negotiators were “prepared to present a final regulatory proposal” to resolve the remaining issues, they said.
Netanyahu's office said last Thursday that Israel would send a negotiating team on August 15 “to the agreed location to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement.”
A possible cease-fire for the release of hostages held in Gaza and the delivery of increased aid has been the focus of successive agreements since the first cease-fire.
Recent discussions have focused on the framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May, which he said was proposed by Israel.
“It doesn't look like the contract will be ready to be signed on Thursday. There's still a lot of work to be done,” a senior Biden administration official said of talks between Biden and the Egyptian and Qatari leaders this week.
Israel is “very receptive” to the idea of talks, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, rejecting suggestions that Netanyahu is stalling on the deal.
The announcement of the talks came after Hamas named Yahya Sinwar — the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attacks — as its new leader, raising fears that the acrimonious negotiations will become more difficult.
On the ground in Gaza, the Hamas-run civil defense agency said Israeli strikes hit the Al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City, killing more than 18 people.
Senior agency official Mohammad Al-Mughayyir said 60 people were injured and more than 40 were missing.
“This is a clear target for schools and safe civilian homes in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Israeli army said the schools housed Hamas command centers.
At least 13 people were killed elsewhere in Gaza, rescuers and medics said, as the Israeli army issued its final evacuation order for areas in the southern city of Khan. Yunis.
Diplomats have pressed efforts to defuse tensions in the region, high after the killing of two top militant leaders in an attack that Israel blamed but vowed to retaliate against the militants and their Iranian backers.
Iran's foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, told AFP that Israel had made a “strategic mistake” in killing Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week — hours after the assassination of Hezbollah's military chief in Beirut.
Although Israel has denied Haniyeh's murder, Iran and its allies have vowed revenge.
Israel seeks to “expand tension, war and conflict in other countries,” but does not have the “ability or power” to fight Iran, Bagheri said.
Netanyahu, speaking at a military base on Wednesday, said Israel was “prepared for defense and attack” and was “determined” to defend itself.
Officials in the Middle East and abroad have called for calm, with Britain's international development minister, Anneliese Dodds, telling AFP on a visit to Jordan: “We have to see we are losing weight.”
The United States, which has sent additional warships and aircraft to the region, has urged Iran and Israel to avoid escalation.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Wednesday with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian and later with Israel's Netanyahu, telling the two to “stop the cycle of revenge,” according to reports. the French president.
The Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip has already drawn in militants who rival Tehran in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Hezbollah's Lebanese ally Hamas, which has engaged in daily cross-border firefights with Israeli troops during the Gaza war, has vowed to avenge the killing of army chief Fuad Shukr.
The unprecedented Hamas offensive that sparked the Gaza war has left 1,198 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli figures.
Palestinian militants took 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military operation in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas territory's health ministry, which did not provide details on civilian and militant deaths. .
Netanyahu, who has resisted apologizing for the failure of security in Israel's worst attack, said in an interview published on Thursday that he was “very sorry that something like this happened”.
“You always look back and say, 'Could we have done something to prevent this?'” Netanyahu told Time magazine.
