MEZIESBLOG

Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas seem “to have broken down completely overnight”.

The end of the first phase of the ceasefire two weeks ago created a “tricky, delicate moment” – especially as the Trump administration was occupied with talks to end fighting in Ukraine.

There are 59 Israel hostages still being held by Hamas – 24 of whom are still believed to be alive. 

For their release, Hamas wanted the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and an end to hostilities as part of the second phase of the deal.

He noted that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff – “Trump’s point man” – was in Doha recently for negotiations on extending that first phase, which “he failed to do”.

A Palestinian source who lives in central Gaza also told Stone that the strikes were “not a surprise”, saying: “I guess the strongest ones can do whatever they want.”

The source then said, “we were sure that this war wouldn’t end” – and added: “I wish they (would open the Rafah border crossing [into Egypt]. I wish to leave. I cannot take it anymore.”

Stone added: “That’s the human cost for people inside Gaza.”

Israel ‘trying to put pressure back on Hamas’ with strikes, analyst says

Joe Truzman, senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, has spoken to Sky News about Israel’s aims.

“[Benjamin Netanyahu] has the families, the hostage families, that have been asking him and demanding this ceasefire because they need to get their loved ones back,” he said.

“But at the same time, which is very important here, is that … at least one of Israel’s main war objectives is for Hamas not to rule the Gaza Strip after the war is over.

“What Hamas wants is quite the opposite – they want to continue to rule the Gaza Strip. So, this is a problem that mediators up to this date have not been able to answer.”

Truzman added: “I think Israel is trying to put this pressure back onto Hamas. Whether it’s going to work or not, I couldn’t tell you.

“However, I think we’ve reached this point where one way or the other, one side is going to break.”

Israel ‘had not ceased fire’ before airstrikes

Yousef Munayyer, senior fellow at the Arab Centre Washington DC, said he believes Israel did not abide by the ceasefire agreement prior to the airstrikes.

“Even when this ceasefire was supposedly in place, the Israelis had not ceased fire and had killed some 150 Palestinians as well as failed to fully live up to their agreed-upon obligation when it came to the facilitation of aid,” he says.

Munayyer added there were “horrific images” coming out of Gaza “at a time when people were hoping for a little bit of reprieve during the holy month of Ramadan”.

Senior Hamas official reportedly killed

The deputy interior minister in Gaza, who headed Hamas’s police and internal security services, has reportedly been killed in a strike.

Mahmoud Abu Wafah was the highest-ranking Hamas security official in Gaza.

More than 322 killed and missing, Hamas says

Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office says the number of people killed and missing after Israeli airstrikes this morning is more than 322.

The Hamas-run health ministry said earlier that at least 200 people had been killed.

The government media office called the attacks a “blatant violation of all international and humanitarian conventions”.

It says most of those killed and missing are “women, children and the elderly” and that many victims remain unrecovered.

The statement adds that efforts to recover victims have been hampered due to the “complete paralysis” of the transport sector caused by a lack of fuel.

It calls on the international community and the UN to “break their silence and take immediate action”.