Mediators seek Gaza truce as US calls for 'immediate ceasefire', martyrs' toll at 30,534
GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - Mediators in Cairo pushed on Monday with efforts towards a Gaza truce after Israel's top ally the United States stepped up pressure for a halt in fighting and more aid to enter the besieged Palestinian territory.
Bombardment and combat claimed 124 more lives within 24 hours, said the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory which has been devastated and gripped by dire food shortages in the war.
It said that at least 30,534 people have been martyred during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory. Another 71,980 people have been wounded since the war broke out on October 7.
Qatari and Egyptian mediators met with US and Hamas envoys -- but no Israeli delegates so far -- in Cairo for a second day of talks aiming for a halt in fighting before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan starts on March 10 or 11.
An Egyptian TV channel linked to the intelligence service reported "significant progress" towards a truce deal without giving any more details, while a Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the talks were continuing.
The plan on the table aims for a six-week truce, the exchange of scores of remaining hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and for more aid to enter Gaza -- but sticking points remain. Hamas wants Israel to withdraw all forces, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the army will finish its campaign to destroy Hamas, including in far-southern Rafah where about 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.
Israel has also demanded a list of all remaining captives. Israel has said it believes 130 of the original 250 captives taken by Hamas remain in Gaza, but that 31 have been killed. US Vice President Kamala Harris called on Sunday for the six-week truce deal to be accepted, while criticising Israel in unusually strong language over insufficient aid deliveries into Gaza.
"Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table," she said in a speech in Selma, Alabama. "Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire," she said. "Well, there is a deal on the table. And, as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal."
The vice president also stressed that Gazans are starving and that conditions are "inhumane" and demanded the Netanyahu government "must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses."
'Powder keg'
Gaza's hunger crisis came into stark relief last Thursday when more than 100 Palestinians were killed in chaotic and bloody scenes around a convoy of aid trucks in Gaza City. Gaza health officials said Israeli forces opened fire into the crowd, while Israel's army said most victims were trampled to death or hit by trucks in a crush for food.
Palestinian families have told AFP of grinding up animal feed and foraged plants, while the health ministry said at least 16 children have died of malnutrition in Gaza's aid-deprived north. Blinken said on X that "it is imperative that we expand the flow of aid into Gaza to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation".
A Hamas official has said the group wants the truce deal to include "the entry of at least 400 to 500 trucks per day" carrying food, medicine and fuel. Witnesses told AFP that an Israeli strike hit an aid truck in central Gaza's Deir al-Balah on Sunday, killing several people.
