Gaza Strip –

U.S. and Israeli negotiators are expected to meet in Cairo over the weekend to renew their push for a hostage ceasefire in a war that has raged for nearly half a year.

Ahead of the talks, US President Joe Biden sent letters to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to step up pressure on Hamas to “agree to and abide by the agreement”, a senior administration official told AFP late on Friday. .

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been engaged in behind-the-scenes talks for months to broker a cease-fire and exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages, but no progress has been made since a week-long truce in November.

The White House confirmed that talks would take place in Cairo this weekend, but would not comment on CIA Director Bill Burns, Israeli spy chief David Bania, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah, as reported by US media. Herman Al Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamal will comment on reports that they will attend.

Israel and Hamas negotiate through intermediaries, with both sides blaming each other for a lack of progress.

“This basic fact remains true: Had Hamas agreed to release this category of vulnerable hostages — the sick, the wounded, the elderly and young women, there would have been a ceasefire in Gaza today,” the senior Biden administration official said.

Hamas officials and Qatari mediator al-Thani have previously accused Israel of obstructing the truce over the return of displaced Gaza civilians and the ratio of prisoners to hostages.

In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden urged him to “fully empower” his negotiators to reach a deal.

A staunch supporter of Israel, Biden’s patience with the massive toll of the Gaza war appears to be waning, especially after the killing of seven aid workers.

As international and domestic outrage grows, Biden has warned that the United States will reassess U.S. support if more is not done to protect civilians.

Allies have been pressuring Biden to tap into billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Israel.

On Friday, more than three dozen U.S. lawmakers signed a letter to Biden urging him to reconsider “the recent decision to authorize the transfer of new weapons packages to Israel and to hold off on this and any future strikes pending a full investigation of the strike.” “Offensive weapons transfer” completed. “

“Inhuman cruelty”

The Israel Defense Forces announced the dismissal of two officers after discovering a series of “serious errors” that led to Monday’s drone strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.

Israel has made a rare admission of wrongdoing in its campaign to drive militant group Hamas out of the Gaza Strip, where the Hamas-run health ministry said more than 33,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed.

Responding to the Israel Defense Forces’ initial findings into the attack, Australian Foreign Minister Wong Yin-hyun said on Saturday it was “not enough”.

World Central Kitchen said Israel “cannot credibly investigate its failures in Gaza” and noted that its staff were attacked despite “following all appropriate communications procedures.”

WCK said its operations in Gaza remained suspended following the attack, while the world’s top aid group said relief efforts were nearly impossible.

“In its speed, scale and inhuman cruelty, the war in Gaza is the deadliest conflict – for civilians, aid workers, journalists, health workers and us,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the UN chief my (United Nations) colleagues.” The United Nations Security Council held a briefing on Friday.

At the same press conference, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan insisted that the “only reason” aid was failing to reach Gaza civilians was that “Hamas is looting them and the United Nations cannot handle its supply capacity.” “.

After Biden’s call with Netanyahu, Israel said it would allow “temporary” deliveries through additional aid routes, without specifying when they would begin.

For Gazans’ 2.4 million people, getting food and water in a strip that has been relentlessly bombarded has become a harrowing struggle.

Palestinians threatened by famine in northern Gaza have been eating an average of just 245 calories a day since January, less than a can of beans, according to Oxfam.

“Living in tents is difficult, everything is difficult. Securing water and food is difficult,” said Gazan Siham Ashour, who, like more than a million others, has been displaced Arriving at the sprawling camp in Rafah, the southernmost city in the region.

wider conflict

The war has also rippled across the wider region, with hostilities between Israel and Iran and its proxies raising fears of a wider conflict.

In Iran, thousands of people chanted “Death to Israel” at a funeral in Tehran on Friday that coincided with annual commemorations in support of the Palestinians.

Iran blames Israel for the attack on its consulate in Damascus that killed seven Revolutionary Guards soldiers and has vowed to retaliate.

Hezbollah said on Friday that three militants had been killed in fighting with Israel. Its ally Amal said it also lost three fighters in an airstrike in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army said in a communique that it bombed a “military installation” used by Amal and targeted several areas in southern Lebanon.

The war in Gaza began with an attack on Israel by Tehran-backed Hamas on October 7 that killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel.

Palestinian militants also took about 250 hostages, of whom about 130 remain in Gaza, 34 of whom the military said were dead.

Tehran denied direct involvement in the attack.