GAZA: Israel carried out an air strike on fighters in northern Gaza, rattling an already fragile ceasefire as it prepared for fresh talks in Doha on the future of its truce with Hamas, AFP reports.
“Hamas stresses the urgency of forcing the occupation to immediately begin second-phase negotiations under the agreed parameters,” senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi told AFP, adding this would pave the way for a permanent end to the fighting.
Hamas’s key demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the Israeli blockade, the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory and financial support, Mardawi said.
Following talks with mediators, Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said indicators were so far “positive”.
A Hamas source said its delegation had now left Cairo for Doha.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would send delegates to the Qatari capital on Monday, and Israeli media reported the security cabinet would discuss the matter later on Sunday.
Israel’s military said its air strike had targeted militants who “were identified operating in proximity to IDF troops and attempting to plant an explosive device in the ground in northern Gaza”.
Trump’s plan to displace Gazans ‘taking shape’
Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned plan to relocate millions of Gazans to other countries was “taking shape”, but acknowledged it would be a massive logistical undertaking, AFP reports.
“This plan is taking shape, with ongoing actions in coordination with the administration… It involves identifying key countries, understanding their interests — both with the US and with us — and fostering cooperation,” Smotrich said at an event in parliament, adding that preparations were underway to establish a large-scale body to oversee the displacement.
Israeli blockade of Gaza has ‘severe implications’ for Palestinians
Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, says people “are living in a very deep humanitarian catastrophe due to Israeli attacks and systemic destruction of the socioeconomic structure in Gaza”, Al Jazeera reports.
The Palestinian enclave’s population has become entirely dependent on humanitarian aid, which is quickly running out because of Israel’s total blockade with “severe implications” for the lives of Palestinians, he said.
Other than physical stressors, there are also the war’s psychological effects, especially for the tens of thousands of orphans in the Strip, Shawa told Al Jazeera.
Many NGOs now focus on delivering mental healthcare to children who have lost parents in Israeli attacks. However, dire humanitarian conditions and the aid blockade make their work “severely complicated”.
