Israeli Strikes Kill Palestinians as Ceasefire Talks Move to Second Phase

At least ten Palestinians were killed across Gaza as the United States announced that Israel and Hamas had moved into the second phase of a 20-point ceasefire agreement aimed at ending the war, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Wafa news agency.

According to the agency, Israeli forces bombed two homes belonging to the al-Hawli and al-Jarou families in the central town of Deir el-Balah on Thursday evening. Health officials said a 16-year-old was among those killed.

The Israeli military said one of the victims, Muhammad al-Hawli, was a commander in the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. International media confirmed that a “senior figure of the Qassam Brigades” had been killed, saying the strike signalled Israel’s intent to define the second phase of the ceasefire “on its terms”.

Israel has outlined conditions for the next phase of the ceasefire that include the establishment of a Palestinian technocratic administration overseen by an international “Board of Peace”, while keeping the option of escalation “on the table”, international media reported.

Hamas condemned the strike on the al-Hawli family home as a “despicable crime”, saying it showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “contempt” for the October ceasefire, but stopped short of confirming the death of one of its commanders.

Elsewhere in Gaza, one person was shot dead by Israeli forces near the Al-Alam roundabout west of Rafah, another was killed in an Israeli attack on a police post near Al-Nablusi Junction southwest of Gaza City, and two more people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the al-Khatib family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.