Deadly Israeli airstrikes continue as Hamas and Israel to start indirect talks on Gaza plan
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, yesterday urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza ahead of the discussions in Egypt.
“You can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS.
Despite this warning, at least seven Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli forces across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Gaza’s civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told the BBC, meanwhile, that 24 Palestinian people were killed in the latest 24 hours, with Israeli bombardment having continued overnight and into Monday.
Key events
The UN commission of inquiry, several human rights groups and the world’s leading association of genocide scholars have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
Despite the evidence, Israel denies the accusation and says it has only acted in self-defence.
Tomorrow will be exactly two years since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The Israeli military launched a war in Gaza in response, so far killing at least 67,139 Palestinian people, according to the territory’s health ministry, mostly civilians.
The death toll does not include the thousands of people buried under the rubble.
There are estimated to be 48 hostages still being held in Gaza by Hamas, only 20 of whom are thought to be alive.
Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has published some key statistics on life in Gaza amid the Israeli assault:
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Nearly 90% of water, sanitation, and hygiene resources destroyed or damaged
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Over 60% of families lack access to soap
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Over 40% live near uncollected waste
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Half a million women and girls lack sufficient menstrual hygiene materials
Unrwa has been the major distributor of aid in Gaza and has provided education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region.
But an Israeli ban on the agency in Gaza and the occupied West Bank took effect earlier this year after Israel accused it of being infiltrated by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. Unrwa denies this claim.
Palestinian Unrwa personnel in Gaza continue to provide services and assistance to the civilian population and staff do the same in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
In a post on X published yesterday, Unrwa wrote:
Unrwa continues to distribute water, hygiene kits, and collect solid waste. Unrwa has the teams and systems in place to deliver.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has praised Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, saying it could mark the start of a path towards stability in the region.
In an address to mark the 1973 war between Israel and Egypt that led to the end of Israel’s occupation of the Sinai peninsula, Sisi said on Monday:
I can only extend my praise and appreciation for US President Donald Trump for his initiative that seeks a ceasefire in Gaza after two years of war, genocide, killing and destruction.
A ceasefire, the return of prisoners and detainees, the reconstruction of Gaza and the launch of a peaceful political process that leads to the establishment and recognition of the Palestinian state means we are on the right path to lasting peace and stability.
Egypt and Qatar are working to convince Hamas to accept Trump’s ultimatum to end Israel’s war in Gaza.
El-Sisi has previously said his government would work with Washington to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine that is based on the two-state solution.
Trump’s plan requires Hamas to return all 48 hostages – about 20 of them thought by Israel to still be alive – give up power and disarm in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an end to Israel’s assault.
However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sets no path to Palestinian statehood.
Hamas has only agreed to three points: the release of all hostages, the surrendering of power and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Deadly Israeli airstrikes continue as Hamas and Israel to start indirect talks on Gaza plan
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, yesterday urged Israel to stop bombing Gaza ahead of the discussions in Egypt.
“You can’t release hostages in the middle of strikes, so the strikes will have to stop,” Rubio told CBS.
Despite this warning, at least seven Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli forces across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Gaza’s civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told the BBC, meanwhile, that 24 Palestinian people were killed in the latest 24 hours, with Israeli bombardment having continued overnight and into Monday.
Robert Tait
As to the immediate future, the plan provides for “full aid” to be sent to Gaza, parts of which are suffering from famine and regular deaths from starvation…
With Hamas banished, Gaza’s governance would be passed to a temporary transitional body in the form of a “technocratic and apolitical Palestinian committee”, which would in turn be overseen and supervised by an international “Board of Peace”, headed by Donald Trump. The board would include other heads of state and international officials, including the former British prime minister, Tony Blair.
That body would organise and set the framework for funding the redevelopment of Gaza while the Palestinian Authority, the political entity nominally in charge of Palestinian affairs in the West Bank, had undergone a process of reform.
A panel of experts will be convened to create what the plan calls a “Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize” the territory, which the US president has previously envisioned being transformed into a “riviera” with a string of hi-tech megacities.
Mention of the thorny issue of a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu vehemently opposes, is left until the end of the plan, with “an interfaith dialogue process” to be set up to promote “the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence”.
What’s in Trump’s 20-point ‘peace plan’ for Gaza?
Robert Tait
Robert Tait, a political correspondent for Guardian US, has this on the details of the Trump plan, which has been met with widespread approval internationally and in Israel:
Assuming both sides agree to a detailed list of conditions, the end of fighting will be accompanied by the release of all Israeli hostages, both dead and alive, “within 72 hours” of Israel publicly accepting the deal.
In return for the release of hostages, Israel would release 250 Palestinians currently serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians in Gaza detained since the conflict started on 7 October 2023 after Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Palestinians.
The plan does not require a full Israeli withdrawal ahead of the release of the hostages. Rather, Israeli forces would withdraw to an agreed upon line, inside Gaza, to prepare for a hostage release. The plan says that all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended during the release process and battle lines will remain frozen until “conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal”.
Once all hostages are released, amnesty will be granted to members of Hamas – the Islamist military group that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly vowed to destroy – who agree to peaceful coexistence and to decommission their weapons.
Those who wish to leave Gaza will be given safe passage to countries who have agreed to receive them.
The 20-point plan envisages Gaza as “a de-radicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours”. In a separate point, it says the territory will be “redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough”.
Vitally, and in defiance of the vision of some of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, Israel will not occupy or annex the territory, which was home to 21 Israeli settlements before their inhabitants were withdrawn in 2005. Nor will anyone be forced to leave Gaza, the plan promises. Those who wish to leave will be allowed to do so freely and permitted to return.
Hamas will not be permitted any role, “directly or indirectly”, in the future governance of the territory.
Trump urges negotiators to ‘move fast’ as they gather in Egypt for Gaza talks
Donald Trump has urged Hamas and Israeli negotiators gathering in Egypt for crucial talks aimed at ending Israel’s war in Gaza to “move fast,” adding, in comments on Sunday, that there had been “very positive” discussions.
The US president said:
There have been very positive discussions with Hamas, and Countries from all over the World (Arab, Muslim, and everyone else) this weekend, to release the Hostages, end the War in Gaza but, more importantly, finally have long sought PEACE in the Middle East.
These talks have been very successful, and proceeding rapidly. The technical teams will again meet Monday, in Egypt, to work through and clarify the final details. I am told that the first phase should be completed this week, and I am asking everyone to MOVE FAST.
The US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to join the talks, according to Israeli media, in addition to Israel’s negotiators and a Palestinian delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas.
Al-Hayya is reportedly due to meet with mediators from Egypt and Qatar in Cairo this morning, ahead of talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.
However, Israel’s chief negotiator, strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, is expected to join talks later this week, pending developments in the negotiations, according to three Israeli officials.
Optimism about a potential ceasefire has grown across the world, with western and Arab leaders urging Hamas and Israel to come to a deal. On Sunday, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, called Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and expressed support for the Trump plan, describing it as “the best chance for peace”, according to a readout.
