Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in Gaza near the line demarcating areas of Israeli control on Monday, underlining the struggle to broaden a fragile ceasefire deal approved over six weeks ago to global acclaim.
Palestinian medics said Monday's incidents involved an Israeli drone firing a missile at a group of people east of Khan Younis, killing two and wounding another, and a tank shell killing a person on the eastern side of Gaza City.
Palestinian group Hamas and Israel signed a truce on October 9 halting two years of devastating warfare but the agreement left the most intractable disputes for further talks, freezing the conflict without resolving it. Both sides have since accused each other of deadly breaches of existing commitments in the agreement and of pushing back against later steps required by US President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday that at least 342 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the truce. Last week, the United Nations Security Council gave formal backing to Trump's plan, which calls for an interim technocratic Palestinian government in Gaza, overseen by an international "board of peace" and backed by an international security force.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who helped the US develop the plan and who Trump has said may join the board of peace, met the Palestinian Authority's deputy leader Hussein al Sheikh in the West Bank on Sunday.
Sheikh said in a social media post they had discussed developments following the Security Council resolution and requirements for Palestinian self-determination.
Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation in Cairo, led by Khalil al Hayya, held talks with Egyptian officials on exploring the next phase of the ceasefire, according to Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza. — AFP
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