Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories, August 8, 2024 Agence France Presse: Israel has agreed to resume ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip on August 15, at the request of mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Thursday, as regional tensions escalate over the war.
The Hamas-controlled civil defense unit in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed more than 18 people in attacks on two schools on Thursday, as Iran accused Israel of wanting to provoke war in the Middle East.
After a week-long hiatus in November, mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt are trying to reach a second truce in the 10-month war sparked by a Hamas offensive on Israel on Oct. 7.
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 all remaining gaps and begin implementing the agreement without further delay.”
The framework agreement “is on the table” with only operational details left to be finalised, and mediators “are ready to present final bridge proposals” to resolve remaining issues, they said.
Netanyahu's office later said Thursday that Israel would send a delegation on Aug. 15 “to the agreed location to finalize the details of implementing the agreement.”
Any future cessation of hostilities, including the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and the delivery of greater aid, would be centered on a phased agreement that begins with a preliminary ceasefire.
Recent discussions have focused on a framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May, which he said was proposed by Israel.
“The deal is not ready to be signed on Thursday. There is still a lot of work to be done,” a senior Biden administration official said of the talks that followed calls between Biden and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar this week.
The official told reporters on condition of anonymity that Israel was “very receptive” to the idea of talks, dismissing suggestions that Netanyahu was delaying a deal.
The announcement of the talks comes after Hamas announced the appointment of Yahya Sinwar, a suspected mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, as its new leader, raising concerns that the torturous negotiations will become even more difficult.
In the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-controlled Civil Defense unit reported Israeli strikes on the Al-Zahra and Abdel Fatah Hamoud schools in Gaza City, killing more than 18 people.
Senior government official Mohammad al-Mukhayir said 60 people were injured and more than 40 were still missing.
“This is a clear targeting of schools and safe civilian areas in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
The Israeli military said the school was a Hamas command center.
At least 13 people have been killed elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, rescue workers and medics said, as the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders, ordering some areas in the southern main city of Khan Younis to be evacuated.
Diplomats have pressed for efforts to defuse heightened regional tensions after two leaders of a terrorist group were killed in an attack blamed on Israel, with the group and its Iranian backers vowing revenge.
Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Baqeri told AFP that Israel had made a “strategic mistake” by killing Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, hours after the assassination of a Hezbollah military leader in Beirut.
While Israel has not acknowledged the killing of Haniyeh, Iran and its allies have vowed to retaliate.
Israel seeks to “expand tensions, wars and conflicts to other countries,” but does not have the “capability or strength” to fight Iran, Bagheri said.
Netanyahu said at a military base on Wednesday that Israel was “prepared for both defense and offense” and was “determined” to defend itself.
Officials in the Middle East and elsewhere have called for calm, with British International Development Secretary Annelise Dodd telling AFP during a visit to Jordan: “We need to see a de-escalation.”
The US, which has sent additional warships and aircraft to the region, has urged Iran and Israel to avoid escalating tensions.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Iranian President Masoud Peseshkian and later with Israeli President Netanyahu on Wednesday, urging both sides to “avoid a cycle of revenge,” the French presidency said.
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza already attracts Tehran-backed terrorist groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Lebanon's Hamas ally Hezbollah, which has been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli troops throughout the Gaza war, has vowed to retaliate for the killing of Gen. Fouad Shukr.
An unprecedented Hamas attack that sparked a war in the Gaza Strip has killed 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Palestinian militants have taken 251 hostages, with 111 still held in the Gaza Strip, including 39 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military operation in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry, which did not provide details on civilian and terrorist deaths.
Netanyahu, who has refused to apologize for failing to protect Israel from its deadliest attack, said in an interview published Thursday that he was “deeply sorry that this happened.”
“You always look back and you say, ‘Could we have done things that could have prevented that?’” Netanyahu told Time magazine.
