Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories, August 8, 2024 AFP news agency: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced on Thursday that Israel has agreed to resume Gaza ceasefire talks on August 15 at the request of American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators. war
Gaza's civil defense agency, which is controlled by Hamas, said Israeli bombardment killed more than 18 people in attacks on two schools on Thursday, as Iran accuses Israel of spreading war in the Middle East.
After a week-long pause in November, US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators tried to secure a second ceasefire in the 10-month war that began with an unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas 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 all remaining gaps and start implementing the agreement without further delay”.
They said a framework agreement was “now on the table and only the implementation details” remained to be worked out, and mediators were “ready to make a final bridging offer” to resolve the remaining issues.
Netanyahu's office said late 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 cessation of hostilities would also include the release of hostages held in Gaza and the sending of massive aid around a phased agreement that would begin with an initial ceasefire.
Recent debate has focused on a framework that US President Joe Biden outlined in late May and said was proposed by Israel.
It is not as if the agreement is going to be ready to be signed on Thursday. “There is still a significant amount of work to be done,” a senior Biden administration official said of talks that followed this week's calls between Biden and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that Israel was “very receptive” to the idea of the talks and dismissed suggestions that Netanyahu was stalling the deal.
The announcement of the talks came after Hamas named Yahya Sinwar – the mastermind of the October 7 attack – as its new leader, raising fears that the agonizing talks have become even more difficult.
The Hamas-controlled Civil Defense Agency in Gaza announced that Israeli attacks on al-Zahra and Abdul Fattah Hammoud schools in Gaza City killed more than 18 people.
Mohammad al-Maghir, a senior agency official, said that 60 people were injured and more than 40 people were still missing.
He said: “This is a clear targeting of schools and safe civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army said that these schools housed Hamas command centers.
As the Israeli army issued its latest evacuation order for parts of the main southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, aid workers and medics reported that at least 13 people were killed elsewhere in Gaza.
Diplomats have pressed efforts to ease tensions in the region after two senior militia leaders were killed in attacks blamed on Israel and 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 Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week – hours after Hezbollah's military commander was assassinated in Beirut.
Although Israel has not admitted to killing Haniyeh, Iran and its allies have vowed revenge.
Bagheri said: Israel seeks to spread tension, war and conflict to other countries, but it has neither the “capacity nor the power” to fight Iran.
Speaking at a military base on Wednesday, Netanyahu said Israel was “prepared both defensively and offensively” and was “determined” to defend itself.
Officials in the Middle East and beyond have called for calm, and British International Development Secretary Anneliese Dodds told AFP on a visit to Jordan: “We need to see a de-escalation of tensions.”
The United States, which has sent more warships and warplanes to the region, has urged Iran and Israel to avoid escalating tensions.
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his Iranian counterpart Massoud Al-Madijian and later with Israel's Netanyahu, telling both to avoid a cycle of retaliation, according to the French presidency.
The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has already attracted Tehran-aligned militias in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Lebanon's Hezbollah ally, Hamas, which has been firing on Israeli troops almost daily during the Gaza war, has vowed to avenge the killing of army chief Fouad Shakar.
The unprecedented attack by Hamas that started the war in Gaza killed 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli statistics.
Palestinian militants took 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who were killed according to the Israeli military.
Israel's retaliatory military operation in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to the Hamas-controlled region's health ministry, which did not provide details of civilian or militant deaths.
Netanyahu, who has resisted apologizing for security failures in Israel's worst attack, said in an interview published Thursday that he was “actually sorry that this happened.”
“You always look back and say, 'Could we have done something to prevent it?'” Netanyahu told Time magazine.
