Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territory, August 8, 2024 Agence France-Presse: Israel has agreed to resume Gaza ceasefire talks on August 15 at the request of US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Thursday, as regional tensions escalate. . war
Gaza's Hamas-controlled Civil Defense Agency said Israeli bombardment on two schools on Thursday killed more than 18 people, as Iran accused Israel of trying to spread war in the Middle East.
After a week-long pause in November, US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have attempted to secure a second ceasefire in the 10-month-old war that began with an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 in Israel.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the leaders of the three countries invited the warring parties to resume talks in Doha or Cairo on August 15 “to close all remaining gaps and begin implementation of the agreement without further delay.”
A framework agreement “was now on the table, with only implementation details” yet to be concluded, and mediators were “prepared to present a final bridging proposal” to resolve the remaining issues, they said.
Netanyahu's office said later Thursday that Israel would send a negotiating team on Aug. 15 “to an agreed location to conclude the details of implementing the agreement.”
The release of hostages held in Gaza and a possible end to scaled-up aid delivery also center around a phased agreement starting with an initial ceasefire.
Recent discussions have focused on the outline outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May, which he said was offered by Israel.
“It's not like the deal 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 this week that followed calls between Biden and the Egyptian and Qatari leaders.
Israel was “very receptive” to the idea of talks, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, rejecting suggestions Netanyahu was sticking to the deal.
Talks announced After Hamas named Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attacks, as its new leader, there are fears that the tortured talks will become more difficult.
In Gaza, the Hamas-controlled Civil Defense Agency said Israeli airstrikes hit al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City, killing more than 18 people.
A senior official of the agency, Mohammad Al-Mughair, said that 60 people were injured and 40 people were still missing.
“It is a clear target of schools and safe civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Israeli military says the school houses a Hamas command center.
At least 13 people were killed elsewhere in Gaza, rescuers and medics reported, after the Israeli army issued its latest evacuation order for parts of the main southern city of Khan Younis.
Diplomats pressed efforts to ease tensions in the region, after two top rebel leaders were killed in attacks blamed on Israel that the militants and their Iranian backers have vowed to retaliate.
Iran's acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, told AFP that Israel had made a “strategic mistake” by killing Ismail Haniyah, the political leader of Hamas, in Tehran last week – hours after Hezbollah's military chief was assassinated in Beirut.
Although Israel has not admitted killing Haniyeh, Iran and its allies have vowed retaliation.
Israel “seeks to spread tension, war and conflict to other countries,” but does not have the “capacity or power” to fight Iran, Bagheri said.
Speaking at a military base on Wednesday, Netanyahu said Israel was “prepared both defensively and offensively” and “determined” to defend itself.
Officials in the Middle East and beyond have called for calm, with UK international development minister Anneliese Dodds telling AFP on a visit to Jordan: “We need to see a de-escalation of tensions.”
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 to his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezhekian on Wednesday and later to Israel's Netanyahu, telling both to “avoid the cycle of retaliation”.
The Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip has drawn into Tehran-linked rebels in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Hezbollah, an ally of Lebanon's Hamas, which has engaged in daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in the Gaza war, has vowed revenge for the killing of military chief Fuad Shouk.
According to AFP figures based on Israeli official figures, the unprecedented Hamas offensive that started the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, most of them civilians.
Palestinian militants have taken 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom the Israeli military said were killed.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not detail civilian and militant deaths.
Netanyahu, who has resisted apologizing for security failures for Israel's worst attack, said in an interview published Thursday that “I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened.”
“You always look back and say, 'Could we have done things to prevent that?'” Netanyahu told Time magazine.
