CAIRO(National Times)- An Israeli airstrike killed at least six Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, a day after US President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner ended an inconclusive trip to the region over a stalled US plan to end the conflict in Gaza.
Medics said 14 others were wounded when the Israeli plane fired two missiles at a small cafe inside the fishing harbour in western Gaza City. The seaport has turned into a large displacement camp for Palestinian families during the conflict that began in October 2023.
Footage on social media showed Palestinians tending to those wounded at the cafe and nearby tents, as blood stained the ground. Some of the casualties were loaded into private vehicles and transported to hospital.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted armed Hamas commanders, who it said had planned to carry out attacks against forces operating in the enclave.
Kushner meetings
After the Kushner meetings, an official from Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, which put forward the roadmap, said Israel retained its full right of self defence and that there would be no redeployment by the Israeli military until Hamas was disarmed. An Israeli official said Netanyahu made it clear the military would continue to operate in Gaza and that there would be no pullback of Israeli troops.
Both sides dispute sequence
In what had appeared to be a possible breakthrough at the end of last month, Trump announced Hamas had accepted the roadmap, which said the Palestinian group would decommission its weapons in phases as Israel’s military withdrew from Gaza. The military would also stop its operations in the territory.
Netanyahu, whose ruling coalition is trailing ahead of an October election, rejected the roadmap, insisting the military would only withdraw once Hamas is completely disarmed. Hamas has demanded that Israel adhere to the ceasefire and withdraw its forces from Gaza. Both sides have disputed the sequencing of how Trump’s plan should be implemented.
“If they (Hamas) don’t follow through now on their commitment, everyone will see that they’re not genuine about peace, and then Israel will have a lot more support from the US and others to go and finish the job in the appropriate way,” Kushner told Fox News in an interview.
Hamas committed to deal
Hamas said on Tuesday it remained committed to the US-backed Gaza peace deal after White House envoy Jared Kushner spoke to Israel about steps towards the group’s disarmament.
“Hamas is committed to this agreed-upon process. It is clear that, so far, the Israeli side has not given the mediators clear approval of the roadmap,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said. “There are timelines and procedural steps that need to be worked out in detail, but there must first be Israeli approval of the roadmap,” he said.
Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, held a rare meeting with Hamas in Egypt before meeting the following day in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kushner, in a Fox News interview after the talks, said that Hamas’s disarmament could begin in about 30 days and that reconstruction of Gaza would not begin until that happens.
Kushner also said that the United States is “not going to restrict Israel’s right to defend itself if there are any imminent threats” in Gaza. Netanyahu has demanded that Hamas fully disarm. In his talks with Kushner, the two sides agreed that a US general would oversee the surrender of weapons, according to an Israeli official.
Trump’s “Board of Peace” implementing the deal has also told Netanyahu that Israel does not need to start withdrawing from Gaza until full disarmament, walking back an earlier call to start a phased pullout. Israel has kept up airstrikes in Gaza despite the peace push.
