CAIRO, Egypt: Hamas leaders held talks in Cairo with Egyptian security officials to discuss a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official of the group said, as Israeli military strikes killed at least 15 more Palestinians on Sunday, medics said.
A Hamas delegation, headed by its political bureau member Khalil al-Haya, arrived in Cairo on Saturday afternoon to explore new avenues for a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange, the Daily News Egypt reported.
The visit was the first since the United States announced on Wednesday it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza.
A Hamas leader, on condition of anonymity, confirmed the visit to the Daily News Egypt, stating it followed an Egyptian invitation to discuss proposals aimed at achieving both objectives.
(Photo by AFP)
The delegation’s visit includes meetings with key Egyptian officials, including Major General Hassan Rashad, head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, and officials involved in mediation efforts, the news media outlet reported.
The Hamas delegation’s visit aims to formulate a comprehensive ceasefire proposal, particularly in light of the recent two-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the Daily News Egypt reported.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has intensified bombardments across the Palestinian enclave and blew up houses in the north of the territory.
In the central Gaza camp of Nuseirat, an Israeli airstrike killed six people in a house, and another attack killed three in a home in Gaza City, medics told Reuters.
Two children were killed when a missile hit a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, while four other people were killed in an airstrike in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.
Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October this year.
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Palestinians claimed that Israeli operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone — an allegation the army denies.
The military said it has killed hundreds of Hamas fighters there since the war in Gaza started. Hamas’s armed wing says it has killed many Israeli forces in anti-tank rocket and mortar fire attacks, and in ambushes with explosive devices since the new operation started.
Two Palestinian detainees from Gaza have died in Israeli custody, prisoner advocacy groups said on Sunday, bringing the number of detainees reported killed since the start of the war to 47.
They named the two men as Mohammad Idris and Muath Rayyan, both in their 30s.
The Israel Prison Service said the cases were not under its jurisdiction and there was no immediate comment from the military which runs detention camps.
Israel has denied accusations from Palestinian and international human rights organizations that detainees have been mistreated and tortured in its jails and detention camps.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Gaza said Sunday that at least 44,429 people have been killed in more than 13 months of Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory.
The toll includes 47 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 105,250 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
