“An Israeli strike killed at least seven Palestinians, including two women, in Gaza yesterday, health officials said, as mediators restarted negotiations in Cairo with Hamas and other factions over safeguarding a strained ceasefire agreement. Medics said seven people were killed and 15 others, including children, were wounded when an Israeli airstrike targeted a large tent encampment in the heart of Gaza City. An Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters the military had carried out a strike targeting “terrorists”, but provided no further details. Muhannad Othman Farwana, 25, was killed in the morning in a strike on a tent, the civil defence said. Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis said the man’s body was brought in along with several wounded. The Israeli strike had hit his tent on the roof of his house, just before he was due to get married later in the day, his cousin Mohammed Farwana said. “The whole family was ready to celebrate his wedding. Now, we’re attending his funeral instead of his marriage,” he told AFP. A ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump has failed to halt Israeli attacks and left Israel in control of more than half the enclave after the war began with the events of October 7, 2023. Indirect talks on a second phase of the deal – including Hamas disarmament and Israeli troop withdrawals – have stalled. Israel and Hamas accuse each other of near-daily violations of the truce. Yesterday Egypt began hosting a new round of truce talks with leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian factions expected to last for a few days, Hamas and other sources close to the negotiation said. Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, said the talks would focus on Israel’s implementation of the first phase, and reaching common ground on proceeding toward the second phase. Hamas told mediators, Egypt, Qatar, Turkiye and envoys of Trump’s Board of Peace that ending Israeli attacks in Gaza was essential for any progress, sources from the group and officials close to the talks said. Hamas wants Israel to end attacks, allow more aid into Gaza and withdraw to ceasefire lines. Some 950 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce began, according to figures from Gaza health officials. Hamas rarely provides detail on deaths among its fighters. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants over the same period, Israel’s military has said. Israel says its strikes aim to thwart imminent attacks and that it allows aid and goods into Gaza. Nearly 73,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the war started, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities. Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 Israelis and foreigners taken hostage in the events of October 7, 2023, Israel has said.
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