Israeli Strikes in Gaza Leave Four Dead as Ceasefire Negotiations Continue
Ongoing Conflict and Ceasefire Efforts in Gaza
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Recent Israeli Strikes and Casualties
CAIRO, June 15 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza on Monday, health officials said, as mediators prepared for further ceasefire talks in Cairo to safeguard a U.S.-brokered peace plan for the tiny war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
Details of the Attacks
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed a woman in the town of Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip, while another strike killed one person in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp.
Later on Monday, an Israeli airstrike targeted the rooftop of a building in Gaza City, killing two people, a medic and his son, health officials said.
Israeli Military Response
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incidents.
Ceasefire Negotiations and Mediation Efforts
The violence comes as Nikolay Mladenov, U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, was expected to arrive in Cairo later on Monday, sources close to the mediation effort said, a day after Hamas delivered its response to a 15-point blueprint he had presented to them in recent weeks.
The sources said Hamas and other factions had agreed on all the points except Hamas disarmament, which the group links to Israeli withdrawal and a political track to negotiate Palestinian statehood.
An October 2025 truce brokered by Trump has failed to halt Israeli attacks in Gaza or to secure the disarmament of Hamas militants.
DEADLOCK
Stalemate Over Disarmament and Withdrawal
Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked over how to proceed with the next stage of Trump's Gaza plan, which involves Hamas laying down its arms and Israeli withdrawals.
Hamas said on Monday that leaders of Palestinian factions who held discussions with mediators — Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — over the past week in Cairo had stressed the need for Israel to "fully and unconditionally comply with the terms of the ceasefire agreement, in its entirety and without fragmentation".
Hamas blames the absence of a full agreement to end the Gaza conflict on Israel's refusal to fulfil first-phase obligations agreed in October, which halted major fighting but did not end Israeli attacks. Israel says its strikes are intended to thwart imminent attacks by Hamas and other militants.
Casualties and Humanitarian Impact
Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 990 people since the truce, health officials say, while Israel says four soldiers have been killed by militants in that period.
Israel insists Hamas must disarm, cede power in Gaza and play no role in the future of the enclave.
Israel still occupies more than half of Gaza, where it has ordered residents out and demolished remaining structures.
Nearly the entire population of more than 2 million Palestinians now lives in a narrow strip along the coast, mainly in tents and damaged buildings, under Hamas' de facto control.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi)
