Israeli strikes kill 50 in Gaza as Hamas negotiators arrive in Cairo for ceasefire talks
Cairo/Jerusalem, August 24
Hamas said its negotiators had arrived in Cairo on Saturday to hear about the latest round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks from mediators after the UN reported badly worsening humanitarian conditions, with malnutrition soaring and polio discovered.
Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed 50 people on Saturday, Palestinian health authorities said. Victims of fighting over the past 48 hours remain lying on roads where fighting continues or trapped under rubble, the authorities said.
Months of on-off talks have so far failed to produce a breakthrough to end Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant group’s October 7 attack that triggered the war. Israeli negotiators were in Cairo on Thursday to meet mediators from the United States, which has presented a “bridging proposal” aimed at resolving continued disputes, focused on Israel’s presence in strategic areas of Gaza.
However, there was no sign of any breakthrough on key sticking points, including Israel’s insistence that it must retain control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, on the border between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas has accused Israel of going back on things it had previously agreed to in the talks, which Israel denies. In Israel, PM Benjamin Netanyahu has locked horns with Israeli ceasefire negotiators over whether Israeli troops must remain all along the border between Gaza and Egypt, a person with knowledge of the talks said.
