Israeli air strikes targeted Gaza on Wednesday ahead of ceasefire talks that the United States hopes will stop Iran striking Israel in retaliation for the killing of a Hamas leader.
Iran and its allies blamed Israel for the July 31 killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran during a visit for the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not commented.
The West has urged Iran to stand down its threat to avenge his death, which came hours after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed a senior commander of Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed group in Lebanon.
The escalation has raised fears of a wider conflict after more than 10 months of war in Gaza, which has claimed nearly 40,000 lives, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
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So far, there has been only one, week-long truce in the Gaza fighting, in November, when dozens of hostages in Gaza were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Ahead of Thursday’s ceasefire talks, a Hamas official said the Islamist movement was “continuing its consultations with the mediators”.
“Hamas really wants an end to the war and a ceasefire agreement on the basis of the (Biden) plan,” another Hamas official said, referring to a proposal US President Joe Biden laid out on May 31.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday detailed its conditions for a truce, including “a veto on certain prisoners” being released from its jails.
Biden said on Tuesday that a Gaza ceasefire deal could deter Iran from attacking Israel.
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Asked if a truce between Israel and Hamas could stave off an Iranian assault, Biden said: “That’s my expectation”. He added that while negotiations were “getting hard”, he was “not giving up”.
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