Israeli strikes kill four in Gaza as Hamas meets mediators in Cairo
Israeli strikes killed at least four Palestinians as Hamas met mediators in Cairo, sharpening pressure on a ceasefire already marked by hundreds of deaths.
Israeli strikes killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday as Hamas leaders met mediators in Cairo, a stark reminder that diplomacy and battlefield violence were unfolding side by side. The attacks came as negotiators tried to revive a fragile six-month-old ceasefire and push the parties toward a second phase that has made little visible progress.
Health officials and medics said one strike killed at least three people near Salahudeen road in central Gaza, while another killed one person near a hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the south. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the specific incidents. For Gazans already living under repeated displacement and acute insecurity, the latest deaths showed how quickly the truce can be strained by fresh attacks.
The ceasefire, which began in October 2025, has remained under heavy pressure from the start. Local medics say at least 800 Palestinians have been killed since it took effect, while Israel says militant attacks have killed four of its soldiers over the same period. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Palestinians across Gaza remained unsafe six months into the ceasefire and cited 738 Palestinian deaths since the announcement in its April 2026 update.
Hamas’ delegation had arrived in Cairo two days earlier for meetings over U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan. Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief negotiator, has recently led the movement’s delegations to Egypt to follow up on ceasefire implementation and meet Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators. Hamas officials also said they had held consultations in Cairo with mediators and Palestinian factions, showing that the talks were not only about the deal with Israel but also about internal Palestinian coordination.
The wider conflict still hangs over every round of negotiations. Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and Gaza health authorities say more than 72,500 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. That scale of loss helps explain why the current talks are so hard to stabilize: Hamas is seeking clearer guarantees on implementation and the next phase, while Israel is pressing for arrangements that limit future attacks and preserve security control.
The latest strikes may serve as tactical pressure, a warning that the ceasefire can be broken at any point; they also look like a sign of how close the agreement remains to collapse. With mediators still shuttling between positions in Cairo, the violence on the ground is making each new diplomatic step harder, not easier, to sustain.
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