GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, August 8, 2024 Agence France Presse: Israel has 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 regional tensions soared. war.
Gaza's civil defense agency, controlled by Hamas, said Israeli bombardment killed more than 18 people in airstrikes on two schools on Thursday, as Iran accused Israel of seeking to spread war in the Middle East.
After a week-long pause in November, US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators sought to broker a second truce in the 10-month-old war sparked by an unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the leaders of the three countries called on the warring parties to resume talks on August 15 in Doha or Cairo “to close all remaining gaps and start implementing the agreement without further delay”.
The framework agreement was “now on the table, with only the implementation details remaining to be concluded” and negotiators were “prepared to submit a final bridging proposal” to resolve the remaining issues, they said.
Netanyahu's office said later on Thursday that Israel would send a negotiating team on August 15 “to an agreed location to finalize the details of the implementation of the agreement.”
A potential halt to hostilities, including the release of hostages held in Gaza, and an increase in aid deliveries centered around a phased deal beginning with an initial ceasefire.
Recent discussions have centered on a framework outlined in late May by US President Joe Biden, which he says was designed by Israel.
“It's not like the deal is ready to be signed on Thursday. There's still a significant amount of work ahead of us,” a senior Biden administration official said of the talks that followed calls between Biden and the Egyptian and Qatari leaders this week.
Israel was “very receptive” to the idea of talks, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, rejecting suggestions that Netanyahu was delaying the deal.
The announcement of the talks came after Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar – the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack – as its new leader, raising fears that the agonizing negotiations have become even more difficult.
On the ground in Gaza, the Hamas-controlled Civil Defense Agency said Israeli strikes hit Al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City, killing more than 18 people.
A senior agency official, Mohammad Al-Mughayyir, said 60 people were injured and more than 40 were still missing.
“This is a clear targeting of schools and safe civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Israeli military said the schools housed Hamas command centers.
At least 13 people were killed elsewhere in Gaza, rescuers and medics said, as the Israeli military issued its latest evacuation order for parts of the capital Khan Yunis in the south.
Diplomats pressed for efforts to defuse tensions in the region, sky-high after the killing of two leading militants in attacks blamed on Israel, which the militants and their Iranian backers have vowed to avenge.
Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri told AFP that Israel had made a “strategic mistake” when it killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week – hours after the assassination of a Hezbollah military chief in Beirut.
Although Israel has not acknowledged the killing of Haniyeh, Iran and its allies have vowed retaliation.
Israel is trying to “spread tension, war and conflict to other countries” but does not have the “capacity or power” to fight Iran, Bagheri said.
Netanyahu said at a military base on Wednesday that Israel was “prepared both defensively and offensively” and “determined” to defend itself.
Leaders in the Middle East and beyond have called for calm, with Britain's International Development Secretary Anneliese Dodds telling AFP on a visit to Jordan: “We need to see a de-escalation.
The United States, which has sent additional warships and jets to the region, has urged both Iran and Israel to avoid escalation.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke Wednesday with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian and later with Israel's Netanyahu, telling both to “avoid a cycle of reprisals,” according to the French presidency.
The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has already attracted Tehran-linked militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Hamas's Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which traded with Israeli troops almost daily across the border throughout the Gaza war, has vowed retaliation for the killing of military commander Fuad Shukr.
The unprecedented attack by Hamas that started the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.
Palestinian militants have taken 251 hostages, of whom 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39, the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry, which did not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.
Netanyahu, who resisted apologizing for security failures in Israel's worst attack, said in an interview published Thursday that he was “deeply sorry that something like this happened.”
“You always look back and say, 'Could we have done things to prevent this?'” Netanyahu told Time magazine.
