Donald Trump's envoys met with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday, a diplomatic source said, in a bid to advance the U.S. president's Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with airstrikes in the enclave.
Nickolay Mladenov © BIFA
Donald Trump's envoys met with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday, a diplomatic source said, in a bid to advance the U.S. president's Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with airstrikes in the enclave.
Hamas officials were present at some of the meetings between mediators and with Trump's envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Nickolay Mladenov, Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, the diplomat said.
A senior Israeli official said Kushner and Mladenov were scheduled to meet on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on August 9 said Trump's latest roadmap for Gaza peace was 'unacceptable'.
The official said that Israel was concerned about Washington's demand to end targeted assassinations of Hamas militants in Gaza as the group rebuilds its forces.
Trump's peace plan calls for the immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza. It foresees Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw from the enclave and Gaza is rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
After scaling back its attacks in the enclave earlier this month, Israel's airstrikes have resumed in the past few days.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its aircraft struck two Islamic Jihad and Hamas militants in Khan Younis and Nuseirat.
Earlier, Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya met with Egypt's intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in Cairo. Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, said Al-Hayya would brief mediators on what he said were Israel's ceasefire violations.
Kushner had earlier met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Sisi's office said.
Trump announced last month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war, to which both Israel and Hamas had agreed.
Hamas said it had agreed to the plan to avoid a resumption of the war, but added that implementation of the deal would depend on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawing its forces and halting attacks.
An October ceasefire halted major fighting in a devastating two-year war in Gaza that was sparked by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia may have military needs due to the ongoing attacks by Yemen's Houthis and that Turkey was ready to help under a trilateral defence pact that also includes Pakistan.
The head of United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon said on Saturday it was critical to ensure other UN agencies and Lebanese troops could assume the tasks carried out by the force before it begins withdrawing at the end of this year.
Turkey has revoked the operating license of Iran's Bank Mellat, according to a notice published early Saturday in the official gazette.
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