Summary
Here is a summary of today’s key events so far:
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is in Egypt, pushing for areas of possible progress on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal in talks planned for later this week. He arrived from Tel Aviv, where he said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a US. “bridging proposal” aimed at narrowing the gaps between the two sides after talks last week paused without a breakthrough. He urged Hamas to also accept the proposal as the basis for more talks.
Hamas condemned claims by US President Joe Biden that it was backing away from a Gaza truce deal, calling his remarks a “green light” for Israel to continue the war. The “misleading claims... do not reflect the true position of the movement, which is keen to reach a ceasefire” agreement, the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.
Hamas said it is committed to a ceasefire framework outlined by Biden on May 31 which he said had been proposed by Israel. It described the latest US modifications to that plan as “a coup against” the previous framework, accusing Washington of “acquiescing” to conditions set by Netanyahu.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 12 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school west of Gaza City housing displaced families. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant base embedded inside the school.Hamas denies Israeli allegations that it uses schools and hospitals for military purposes.
Israel has recovered the bodies of six hostages who were seized during Hamas’s 7 October attack and taken to Gaza, its military has announced. An overnight operation in Khan Younis in southern Gaza recovered the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Chaim Peri all civilians abducted from their homes in kibbutzim adjacent to Israel’s barrier wall with the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday.
The Hostages Families Forum, an organisation that represents most hostage families, welcomed the news but renewed its call on the government to conclude a hostage release deal with Hamas. “The immediate return of the remaining 109 hostages can only be achieved through a negotiated deal. The Israeli government, with the assistance of mediators, must do everything in its power to finalise the deal currently on the table,” it said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned of the risk of the Gaza war expanding regionally in a way “difficult to imagine” during a meeting Blinken, the Egyptian presidency said. He added:“The ceasefire in Gaza must be the beginning of broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is the basic guarantor of stability in the region.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said could be a long wait for Iranian retaliation against Israel, according to state media. The Middle East has been bracing for Iran’s avowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the killing.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza has said there have now been 40, 173 Palestinians killed and 92,857 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October.
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According to state media, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said:“Time is in our favour and the waiting period for this response could be long,”, referring to retaliation against Israel and reiterating that “the enemy” should wait for a calculated and accurate response, Reuters reports.
Iranian leaders are weighing all circumstances and the Islamic Republic’s response might not be a repeat of previous operations, he added, according to Iranian state media.
Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian.
