DaysofPal – On the third day of Ramadan, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed at least two Palestinians, another breach of the cease-fire agreement that Hamas and Israel signed more than four months ago.
The strikes took place on Saturday in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and in the Qizan an-Najjar area in the south. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the number of Palestinians killed since the ceasefire came into effect has reached 614, with 1,640 others wounded.
Israel’s military acknowledged one of the incidents in a statement posted on X, saying its forces killed a fighter who crossed the demarcation line in northern Gaza and approached troops “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.” The army said it would “continue to act to remove any immediate threat.”
The escalation follows the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which convened to discuss reconstruction, security, and governance in Gaza. At the session, Trump announced that nine countries had pledged $7 billion toward rebuilding efforts, in addition to a $10 billion contribution from the United States. The combined sum remains well below the estimated $70 billion required to rebuild the territory.
Trump also said five countries committed to contributing troops to a proposed 20,000-member International Stabilization Force (ISF), intended to assume security responsibilities from Hamas. The question of Hamas’s disarmament, which forms part of the next phase of the agreement, remains unresolved and could affect the broader process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that reconstruction cannot proceed until Hamas disarms. A senior aide to Netanyahu recently said Israel plans to give Hamas a 60-day deadline to comply before resuming military operations, an ultimatum rejected by the group.
Hamas has said it will not give up its weapons while Israel continues occupying Gaza. It maintains that any political process must begin with a complete halt to the aggression. The group has expressed openness to an international peacekeeping force under specific conditions.
“We want peacekeeping forces that monitor the ceasefire, ensure its implementation, and act as a buffer between the occupation army and our people in the Gaza Strip, without interfering in Gaza’s internal affairs,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said on Friday.
The next stage of Trump’s proposal envisions a gradual Israeli military withdrawal and the deployment of the ISF, alongside the formation of a transitional Palestinian technocratic committee to oversee daily governance.
Many Palestinians remain doubtful about the plan’s prospects. Awad al-Ghoul, 70, displaced from Tal as-Sultan in southern Rafah and now living in a tent in az-Zawayda, questioned the feasibility of the initiative. “Israel kills, bombs, violates the ceasefire agreement daily, and expands the buffer zone without anyone stopping it,” he said. “So this project was a failure from the start and unclear in vision.”
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