Israeli Strikes Kill Nine in Gaza as Ceasefire Deal Stalls
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- Israeli warplanes struck Gaza City and Deir al-Balah on Sunday, killing a man and his wife in central Gaza and two others including a child in Gaza City, medics said — the second straight day of strikes that hit a medicine warehouse overnight.
- Hamas said it will hand over weapons for storage only after Israel halts military operations and withdraws forces under last year's Egypt-brokered ceasefire, while an Israeli official told Reuters there would be no withdrawal unless Hamas undergoes "genuine disarmament."
- Trump announced Thursday what he called a breakthrough after Hamas agreed to disarm under a U.S.-backed initiative, and his Board of Peace published a 15-point roadmap Friday setting out final implementation steps — yet the roadmap has not been put into effect.
- National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the U.S. initiative unacceptable and said Israel should continue assassinating Hamas leaders; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no public comment on the deal.
- Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, told former Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan he was working with the Israeli side to stop attacks on Gaza, according to a Dahlan Facebook post — contacts Reuters confirmed remain ongoing.
- The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Dahlan's remarks, and Israel also offered no immediate comment, leaving the diplomatic track publicly unconfirmed by either government.
Why it matters: The deadlock gives each side a veto: Hamas conditions disarmament on an Israeli withdrawal Israel refuses to grant without disarmament first. With Netanyahu silent and Ben-Gvir openly hostile to the deal, the 15-point U.S. roadmap has no Israeli political constituency publicly backing it — meaning at least four Palestinian civilians, including a child, were killed in strikes that continued even as Washington declared a breakthrough.
