Israeli strikes kill nine in Gaza, Israeli minister says no deal to halt attacks
CAIRO/JERUSALEM — Israeli airstrikes continued in Gaza for a second straight day on Sunday, killing at least nine Palestinians, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a breakthrough in efforts to implement last year’s Gaza ceasefire agreement.
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Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday that there was no deal to halt attacks on Gaza and that he saw a need for Israel, which already controls 70% of the Strip, to take full control of it.
Cohen is a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security cabinet, a small circle of ministers that oversees security and diplomatic policy.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli warplanes carried out separate strikes across the enclave in the northern Gaza City, central city of Deir al-Balah, and the southern area of Khan Younis.
A man and his wife were killed and four people were wounded in an airstrike on an apartment in Deir al-Balah, while two more people, including a child, were killed in a strike on an apartment in Gaza City, medics said.
A father, mother, and their 9-year-old son were killed around dawn after a strike on a house in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis. Another person was killed near Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said the strikes in Deir al-Balah were targeting two commanders of Hamas’ elite “Nukhba” force. The Gaza City and Jabalia strikes also targeted “military operatives” but the military was still reviewing the situation, it said.
At least 1,230 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a ceasefire was reached in October.
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Trump said on Thursday there had been a breakthrough after Hamas agreed to disarm under a U.S.-backed initiative to implement the ceasefire agreement reached last year in Egypt.
Trump’s Board of Peace, the U.S.-led body overseeing the ceasefire, published on Friday a 15-point roadmap setting out the final steps for implementing the agreement.
Roadmap yet to be implemented
The roadmap has yet to be implemented. Hamas has said it will hand over its weapons for storage only after Israel halts military operations and withdraws its forces in line with last year’s agreement. An Israeli official told Reuters there would be no withdrawal from the military’s current positions unless Hamas undergoes “genuine disarmament”.
Cohen told Army Radio he did not believe Hamas would disarm, but that it would rather play games and try to hide its weaponry.
Netanyahu has not commented publicly on the initiative, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called it unacceptable and said Israel should continue assassinating Hamas leaders. Former senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, who is based in the United Arab Emirates, said in a Facebook post that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser involved in the U.S. initiative, had told him he was working with the Israeli side to stop attacks on Gaza.
Dahlan said contacts with the U.S. were continuing to ensure the agreement was fully implemented, adding that its success now depended on Israel fully ending its daily attacks on Gaza.
Reuters has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment on Dahlan’s remarks. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
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