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An Israeli delegation has arrived in Egypt to continue cease-fire talks as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal. That’s according to three Egyptian airport officials who didn’t give details. International mediators continue to push Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza.
Talks between the sides were rattled over the weekend when Israel said it targeted Hamas’ military commander in a massive strike. His status remains unclear.
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack sparked the war when militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting about 250. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,600 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Two international courts have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide – charges Israel denies. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into squalid tent camps in central and southern Gaza. Israeli restrictions, fighting and the breakdown of law and order have limited humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine.
Here’s the latest:
Israeli delegation arrives in Cairo to continue cease-fire talks
CAIRO__ An Israeli delegation arrived in Egypt on Wednesday to continue cease-fire talks as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal, three Egyptian airport officials said.
International mediators continue to push Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza.
The Israeli delegation includes six officials, the airport officials said without disclosing identities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the arrival with the media.
Talks between the sides were rattled over the weekend when Israel said it targeted Hamas’ military commander in a massive strike. His status remains unclear. Hamas has said the talks continue.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin that such heavy pressure on Hamas had “led to the conditions necessary to achieve an agreement for the return of the hostages.” He gave no further details in a statement from his office.
— Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem
Israel releases 13 Palestinians after detaining them for weeks
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli authorities released 13 Palestinians who had been detained for weeks, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Wednesday.
The Palestinian paramedic group said they were taken from an Israeli checkpoint in the Gaza Strip to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah. Some wept when they were reunited with their relatives. Others showed signs of bruising to journalists.
One of those released, Zakaria Abu al-Eish, said he was caring for his ill father in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza when Israeli forces stormed their home and detained him.
“For 55 days, I was handcuffed, blindfolded, deprived from sleeping, no rest, even food they brought us was for animals,” al-Eish told The Associated Press. “If you eat or not, no one cares. They dealt with us as non-humans.”
Israel has detained some 4,000 Palestinians since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war, according to official figures. About 1,500 were released after the military determined they were not affiliated with Hamas.
