Israeli fire kills three in Gaza following new ceasefire talks

An Israeli airstrike killed at least three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials said, as mediators met leaders from Hamas in an effort to shore up a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal.

Medics said the strike had hit a group of men outside a school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.

At Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the bodies of those killed lay on the ground in white shrouds outside the morgue as relatives and friends arrived to bid them farewell. Some kissed the victims’ foreheads before holding special prayers.

“This isn’t a truce; it’s a trap for our young men. Every day there are martyrs, every single day. How long can this continue?” said Umm Hussam Abu El-Rous, a female relative of one of the victims.

“Isn’t it unjust that a three-year-old child is afraid of seeing his (dead) father? He says, ‘My father went to bring me something from the shop,'” she added.

The ceasefire that began last October halted two years of full-blown war but left Israeli troops in control of a depopulated zone demarcated by yellow-painted blocks that comprises well over half of Gaza, with Hamas in power in a narrow coastal strip and Israeli airstrikes continuing.

More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since the deal took effect, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations.

Palestinians say Israeli forces have been moving some of the yellow concrete markers westward. Israel denies this.

HAMAS DISARMAMENT AN OBSTACLE

The violence comes as leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian factions have been meeting since Saturday in Cairo with mediators from Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar to discuss implementing the second phase of the Gaza deal.

Under a plan put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, Hamas would be required to lay down its arms in stages over eight months after a U.S.-backed committee of Palestinian technocrats takes control in Gaza.

However, Hamas’ disarmament has been a major obstacle to progress on Trump’s ceasefire deal and plan for Gaza, which have also been put under strain by the war in Iran.

Two officials close to the latest talks said Hamas told mediators that discussions on disarmament could only move forward after Israel fully implements the first phase of Trump’s October deal, which includes a complete ceasefire in Gaza.

Israeli military officials have said they are preparing for a swift return to full-scale war if Hamas does not lay down its weapons.

The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s ensuing two-year campaign killed more ​than 72,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health authorities, and left the territory mostly in ruins.