A Palestinian family flees the town of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip in search of safe haven. Photo: AFP
Israel has agreed to join the cease-fire talks in Gaza on August 15, as demanded by the US, Qatar and Egyptian mediators. This information was reported from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the context of the skyrocketing tension due to the war. News from AFP.
Meanwhile, on Thursday (August 8), 18 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s shelling of two more schools, according to the Hamas-controlled Defense Agency for the Protection of Civilians.
After a week-long cease-fire in November last year, mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt were making every effort to get Israel and Hamas to reach a second phase of the 10-month-old war.
In a joint statement yesterday, the leaders of the three countries mediating the talks urged the warring parties to sit down for talks in Doha or Cairo on August 15. It called for them to bridge the gap between them and reach an agreement as soon as possible.
The initial framework of the agreement is now on the negotiating table and negotiators are working on a bridging proposal on other remaining issues, the statement added.
According to Netanyahu’s office, Israel will send a delegation to the talks on August 15 and they will try to resolve the matter through detailed discussions aimed at implementing the agreement.
The initial cease-fire agreement is said to also include talks on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and the delivery of aid to the beleaguered Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Recent talks are progressing according to the outline given by US President Joe Biden. Last May, he announced an outline for Middle East peace talks. But at that time he also mentioned that it was made in the light of Israel’s proposal.
In this regard, a senior official of the Biden administration said, ‘It is not like that, everything was prepared and you went and signed the contract. A significant amount of work remains in this regard.’ He made these comments after discussions with mediators from Qatar and Egypt.
The official, who did not want to be named, also said that Israel considers these ideas of talks quite acceptable.