Trump envoys head to Cairo for Gaza peace talks

Cairo: Envoys representing US President Donald Trump met Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday in an effort to advance Washington's proposed roadmap for ending the conflict in Gaza, according to a diplomatic source. The source said Trump's envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Nickolay Mladenov, the administration's envoy for Gaza, held a series of meetings with mediators, some of which were also attended by Hamas officials. A senior Israeli official said Kushner and Mladenov are scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. The diplomatic effort comes amid ongoing differences over Trump's Gaza peace proposal, which calls for an immediate end to military operations, Hamas disarmament, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the reconstruction of the territory under a new civilian Palestinian administration. Netanyahu said on August 9 that the latest US proposal was "unacceptable," while an Israeli official indicated that Israel remains concerned about Washington's demand to halt targeted assassinations of Hamas militants as the group attempts to rebuild its capabilities. Airstrikes continue Despite diplomatic efforts, violence continued in Gaza on Sunday. The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike targeting a militant in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Medical officials in Gaza said at least five Palestinians were injured when the strike hit a tent encampment. In a separate incident, an Israeli strike targeted another alleged militant in an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, wounding several people, according to medics. Regional diplomacy intensifies Earlier on Sunday, senior Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya met Egypt's intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in Cairo. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said Al-Hayya would brief mediators on what the group described as Israeli violations of the ceasefire. Kushner also met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency. Disputed path to peace Trump announced last month that progress had been made on a plan to end the war and said both Israel and Hamas had agreed in principle to the framework. Hamas has said it accepted the plan to avoid a return to full-scale conflict but insisted that implementation depends on Israel fulfilling commitments, including withdrawing forces and halting military attacks. A ceasefire reached in October significantly reduced large-scale fighting following the war that began after Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. However, military operations and strikes have continued intermittently. According to Gaza health officials cited by Reuters, more than 1,250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since October, most of them civilians. Reuters noted that it remains unclear how many of those killed were militants because Hamas does not regularly disclose fighter casualty figures. Israeli figures show that four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants in Gaza during the same period