Israeli army kills at least 13 in Gaza as Egypt hosts renewed ceasefire talks

The Israeli army has killed at least 13 people and injured dozens of others across the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to information gathered by Al Jazeera. The attacks came as Egypt began hosting a new round of talks with leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian factions to salvage a “ceasefire.” Al Jazeera said Sunday’s attacks took place in the al-Mawasi area near the southern city of Khan Younis, in Gaza City and in Deir el-Balah, according to its colleagues on the ground.

Major fighting has been paused since October 2025 under a United States-brokered “ceasefire.” However, no agreement has been reached to implement a further US-backed plan under which Israeli troops would withdraw, Hamas would disarm and Gaza would be rebuilt after more than two years of heavy Israeli bombardment.

Hamas told envoys from the Board of Peace and the mediators Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye that ending Israeli attacks in Gaza was essential for any progress, according to sources from the group and officials close to the talks in Cairo who spoke to Reuters. On Friday, Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told Al Jazeera that the group was not going to hand over its weapons yet. He said the fate of its military arsenal would be decided after comprehensive discussions with other Palestinian factions.

Al Jazeera reported that since last October, about 947 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,900 wounded in continued Israeli attacks. In the same period, Hamas fighters have killed four Israeli soldiers. According to the report, apartment buildings, markets, vehicles and cafes have continued to be struck, and families have received displacement orders only minutes before their homes were bombed. Abdullah Qaddoum and his five-year-old daughter Maryam were killed on June 6 following Israeli bombardment of the Rimal shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza City, an image captured in a photograph of mourners at their funeral, credited to AFP. Short notice before bombing leaves the most vulnerable with little chance of escape, a call to defend the weak (Psalm 82:3).

Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli military controls about 64 percent of the Gaza Strip, up from the 53 percent envisaged under the ceasefire agreement. Under the areas it controls, the Israeli army has forced the displacement of Palestinians and levelled remaining buildings. On May 28, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to expand its control of the Gaza Strip to 70 percent.

The ceasefire was meant to move into a second phase after the first, in which Hamas released all remaining captives in exchange for some Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. The second phase would have seen the Palestinian armed group disarm and Israeli forces begin to pull out of Palestinian territory. According to the report, that transition has been stalled for months, as both sides’ positions appear to remain distant on key sticking points, especially Hamas’s disarmament and the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the enclave.

Al Jazeera’s report states that Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 72,971 people, turned most of the territory into rubble and forced the displacement of nearly 1.9 million people. It adds that several prominent scholars and a UN independent inquiry have said the war amounts to genocide.

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