Israel Gaza Strikes Cast Progress Doubt08/20 06:11

   Deadly airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday cast more doubt on whether new U.S. 
efforts can advance a tenuous ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Deadly airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday 
cast more doubt on whether new U.S. efforts can advance a tenuous ceasefire in 
the Palestinian territory.

   Just two days after U.S. negotiators reportedly asked Israel to draw down 
attacks in the Gaza Strip, at least 10 people were killed Wednesday in two 
strikes, according to local hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Israeli 
troops also crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and detained a Hamas 
police colonel at dawn Wednesday, two witnesses and a Hamas official said.

   Israel's military said one of the strikes on Wednesday, in the area of 
Nuseirat refugee camp, struck a Hamas commander who had participated in the 
Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people, 
mostly civilians, were killed and 251 abducted. A second strike in the Tuffah 
area of Gaza City struck four Hamas militants gathering in a police station, 
the military said, claiming they were planning to carry out attacks against 
Israeli troops.

   Israel's military said a strike the day before targeted a meeting of four 
Hamas commanders and additional militants.

   The commanders killed included Muhammad Hamdi Ahmad Al-Masri, Muhammad Attar 
and Muhammad Fathi Hussein Nasser, all accused of carrying out terrorist 
attacks against Israeli troops, and Samed Samir Harb Abu Habal, who infiltrated 
Israeli territory during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, according to a 
statement from Israel's military.

   The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the Wednesday Gaza City strike on the 
police station killed eight police officers and a 13-year-old girl. Two 
officers were women, it said. One person was killed in Nuseirat. On Tuesday 
evening, an Israeli strike on a busy seaside cafe killed seven Palestinians, 
including a child, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

   Jared Kushner, a U.S. negotiator and President Donald Trump's son-in-law, 
held a marathon meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 
Monday, in which he asked Israel's leader to draw down attacks on Gaza, a 
person familiar with the meeting said. The person spoke on condition of 
anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists.

   Also on Wednesday, Israel's military said it had completed reviews of 150 
incidents of troop conduct during the war in Gaza and would launch criminal 
investigations into the 2024 killings of a 5-year-old girl and her family, as 
well as of 15 Palestinian paramedics in 2025.

   At least 17 killed in Israeli strikes

   The deadly strikes in Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday exacted more casualties 
even as a ceasefire that's been in place since October has significantly 
diminished the fighting in the tiny enclave where more than 2 million 
Palestinians live. Since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed at least 
1,273 people, according to health officials in Gaza.

   The nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 73,400 
Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part 
of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records 
viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. 
It doesn't distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and 
children make up around half of the toll.

   In the early hours of Wednesday, at least 15 Israeli troops entered the 
Muwasi coastal area, west of the city of Khan Younis, two residents and a Hamas 
official said.

   Accompanied by armed men, the troops stormed the tent of Sabri Abdel-All, a 
colonel for the Hamas-led Blue Police in Khan Younis. They also detained 
another resident identified as Nashat Ezzat Zaarab, they said.

   The two residents and the Hamas official spoke on condition of anonymity for 
their safety.

   Latest ceasefire negotiations offer few concrete commitments

   On the diplomatic front, the ceasefire also appears stalled. Trump's initial 
ceasefire plan laid out a broad vision for ending Hamas' rule in Gaza and 
rebuilding the territory, much of which was reduced to rubble during the war.

   But since last fall, major sticking points have emerged on the conditions of 
Hamas' disarmament and Israel's withdrawal -- and which should come first.

   Earlier this month, Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to disarm. But 
Hamas said it would begin to disarm if Israel halts strikes and withdraws, 
adding that laying down its heavy weapons would come later and be contingent on 
the creation of a Palestinian state -- something Israel's government rejects.

   Netanyahu also pushed back on the deal, saying Israel won't withdraw from 
its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed.

   After Wednesday's strikes, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem lashed out at the 
Board of Peace -- the body Trump established to oversee the ceasefire -- saying 
it has provided a "cover" for Israel to escalate its attacks in Gaza instead of 
pressuring it to abide by the ceasefire agreement.