Israeli airstrike kills 2 in southern Gaza amid push for ceasefire extension

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, medical sources said, as mediators pushed ahead with talks to extend a shaky 42-day ceasefire agreed in January between Israel and Hamas.

The Israeli military said its aircraft struck a drone that crossed from Israel into southern Gaza and “several suspects” who tried to collect it in what appeared to be a botched smuggling attempt.

The strike comes one day after an Israeli drone strike killed two people in Gaza on Friday. The Israeli military said it attacked a group of suspected militants operating near its troops in northern Gaza and planting an explosive device in the ground.

The fresh attacks come as a delegation from Hamas engages in ceasefire talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators who have been helping facilitate the talks along with officials from Qatar, aiming to proceed to the next stage of the deal, which could open the way to ending the war.

Hamas said there are “positive indicators” over the possible start of negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire deal, without giving further details.

“We affirm our readiness to engage in the second-phase negotiations in a way that meets the demands of our people, and we call for intensified efforts to aid the Gaza Strip and lift the blockade on our suffering people,” the group’s spokesman, Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua, said in a statement.

The Gaza ceasefire deal that took effect in January calls for the remaining 59 hostages in Hamas captivity to be freed in a second phase, during which final plans would be negotiated for an end to the war.

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The first phase of the ceasefire ended last week, and Israel has since imposed a total blockade on all goods entering the enclave, demanding that Hamas free remaining hostages without beginning the negotiations to end the Gaza war.

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Fighting has been halted since January 19 and Hamas has released 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israeli authorities believe fewer than half of the remaining 59 hostages are still alive.

Israel’s assault on the enclave has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. It has also internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.

The assault began after Hamas-led Islamist fighters raided southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.