An Israeli Drone strike killed two people in Gaza on Friday, according to local Palestinian medical authorities, emphasizing the uncertainty that surrounds a fragile cessation agreement that has stopped the struggle for the enclave for weeks.
The Israeli military said that the drone struck a group of alleged militants operating near their troops in the north of Gaza and planting an explosive device on Earth, but did not give details about the victims.
The military, under the new army head, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, has prepared a return to the war in Gaza if an agreement cannot be reached with Hamas in extending the cessation of the 42 -day fire agreed last month.
But with a visit in the coming days of the President of the United States President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, who has had direct conversations with Hamas, there has been no indication that Israel has given up on the cessation of fire.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for conversations with Egyptian mediators who have helped to facilitate the conversations along with Qatar officials, with the aim of continuing at the next stage of the agreement, which could open the way to end the war.
In an apparent effort to pressure Israel, Hamas released a video showing the Israeli soldier Matan Angrest, one of the 59 Osraelians and foreign hostages still in the Gaza Strip.
It is not clear if Ceasefire’s conversations will continue
Despite several hiccups, the cessation of fire was largely celebrated since January 19, allowing the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai people for about 2,000 prisoners and Palestinian detainees.
But it is unclear whether the talks to release the remaining hostages and complete Gaza’s Israeli withdrawal will advance, despite the pressure of Trump, who has demanded that Hamas deliver all those who still remain or face devastating consequences.
Israel has demanded the return of his hostages and an extension of the truce through the sacred Muslim month of Ramadan until after the Jewish Easter holidays in April. But he has refused to accept opening conversations that would deal with issues such as the final withdrawal of his Gaza troops and a post -war administration for the enclave.
Israel says he will continue to block all humanitarian assistance in Gaza, unless Hamas agrees to expand the first phase of the fire cessation agreement, which he expired on Saturday. Hamas wants to transfer directly to phase 2 of the original agreement, which includes all the Israeli forces that are withdrawn from Gaza.
Zamir, the new military chief of Israel, has been visiting troops since he assumed the command of Israel’s defense forces this week and said that the army is ready to fight again in Gaza if he is ordered.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health and Al-Ahly Hospital officials said that two people died on Friday’s Drone strike in the Shejaia area in Gaza. A similar incident on Thursday killed three people. The military said that the strike also addressed people who saw a bomb near Israeli troops.
On the first Friday of Ramadan he saw that thousands entered the Old City of Jerusalem to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with Israel that allowed a limited number of older Palestinians and children from the occupied West Bank to cross in the city.
« We have not come for three or four years, but thanks to God for the happiness and joy we could reach the Mosque of Al-Aqsa. This is the greatest joy for the Muslims, » said Salah Aleiwi, who came from West Bank.
Tensions increase in the West Bank
The mosque, in a place in the Old City of Jerusalem that the Jews call the Temple Mountain and worshiped as the place of two ancient temples, is a sacred place for the two religions and has long been a focus for clashes that have sometimes been tired of wider conflicts.
Tensions in West Bank have increased in the middle of an Israeli operation of weeks against Palestinian refugee camps, where troops have demolished dozens of houses and destroyed roads and other infrastructure, sending tens of thousands of camp residents away from home.
Israel says the operation is directed against Palestinian militant groups with Iranian support rooted in the camps.
On Friday, there was a strong police deployment on the narrow streets of the Old City, but there were no serious problems.
« Israeli police are divided by Jerusalem and all Israel to allow the safe environment for the arrival of all these faithful coming here, » said police spokesman Dean Els Dunne.
In recent years, Israeli authorities have regularly restricted access to the compound of the mosque, citing security needs and entry on Friday was conditioned by the approval of the police, even for those who were described by age.
Ibtisam Abdul Fattah, a 65 -year -old West Bank, said he had twice returned to the Qalandiya West Bank control point in northern Jerusalem. « We are in our land, but we are not allowed, » he said.
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