By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza in recent days after scaling them back earlier this month. In Khan Younis, one person wounded in a strike later died at Nasser hospital, medics said. In central Gaza's Nuseirat camp, another strike the Israeli military said targeted a militant instead hit an apartment, wounding several people, according to medics on the ground — accounts that could not be independently verified in the material available.
Meanwhile, the diplomacy continues. Envoys for President Trump met Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday, according to a diplomatic source, working to advance a US peace plan that calls for an immediate halt to military operations, Hamas's disarmament, an Israeli troop withdrawal, and reconstruction of the territory. Jared Kushner was set to meet with Hamas before sitting down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas is now calling on Trump's so-called Board of Peace to "compel" Israel to accept the plan. A senior Israeli official told Reuters that Israel is uneasy about a US demand to halt targeted assassinations of Hamas militants while the group rebuilds its ranks — a sign of how far apart the two sides remain on basic terms.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates weighed in Sunday, condemning Israel's rejection of the road map and accusing it of obstructing peace efforts. Separately, the top US military commander in the Middle East visited the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea amid reports of mental health and supply strains on the long-deployed carrier.
None of this adds up to a ceasefire yet. It adds up to a plan with a lot of signatures still missing.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE -
— Compiled from reporting by The Guardian, including on Jared Kushner's meetings with Hamas and Israeli officials.
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