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Envoy, Netanyahu Meet Over Gaza Deal 08/04 06:40
The Board of Peace official overseeing Gaza's postwar transition met on
Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a
statement, in part to discuss a new disarmament deal the board had reached with
the militant Hamas group.
JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) -- The Board of Peace official overseeing Gaza's
postwar transition met on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, according to a statement, in part to discuss a new disarmament deal
the board had reached with the militant Hamas group.
Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, held "constructive and
detailed" talks with Netanyahu and his team, the Board of Peace said in a
statement.
"The goal is clear and is not in question: the complete decommissioning of
weapons in the Strip and the transition away from rule by the gun to civilian
governance," it said, referring to the embattled enclave.
Mladenov also pressed Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip,
according to two people familiar with the meeting. Mladenov and his team,
including senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, are pressuring Israel to stop
striking Gaza as they push ahead with the agreement to decommission the weapons
held by Hamas.
In a statement Monday, Hamas said the group and various other Palestinian
factions "remain committed to what was agreed regarding the implementation of
the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, including all parties'
obligations."
Hamas added it was awaiting "a clear and official response" from Mladenov
and the mediators regarding what was agreed upon.
Meanwhile, in Washington, members of the Board of Peace met with U.S.
congressional staff on Monday to detail their ongoing efforts and to work with
Congress "to advance peace, security, governance, and reconstruction in Gaza,"
according to a brief statement released by the board.
President Donald Trump had announced the agreement, which is part of a
broader ceasefire deal reached last year, on Thursday. It calls for Israel to
cease its military operations and for Hamas and its allies in Gaza to halt all
militant activity. The agreement also laid out in general terms what the
decommissioning process would look like.
After the text of the agreement was released, Israel said it had "serious
security concerns" and that it shared those with the United States. It also
ramped up its strikes in Gaza, killing 17 people overnight Saturday and into
Sunday, according to local health officials. No airstrikes were reported in
Gaza on Monday.
Israeli attacks have killed 1,250 people since the ceasefire deal was
reached in October, an agreement that ended major fighting in the Israel-Hamas
war that had raged for two years.
Egypt, Qatar and Turkey -- mediators in the Gaza truce negotiations --
denounced the latest Israeli strikes in a statement Monday, saying that the
particular targeting of healthcare facilities, medical infrastructure and
resulting civilian casualties constitutes a flagrant violation of international
law and international humanitarian law.
The mediators also called on the international community to continue to
pressure Israel to fulfill its end of the deal.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern
Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Israel's military offensive in Gaza has since killed 73,375 people,
according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between
civilians and combatants but they are considered generally reliable by the
United Nations and other international organizations.
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