On Friday, local Palestinian medical authorities in Israel killed two people in Gaza in Gaza, emphasizing the uncertainty surrounding the fragile weapon suspension agreement, which for weeks stopped the fight in the enclave.
The Israeli army said that the drone hit a group of suspicious fighters operating near their soldiers in northern Gaza and planting an explosive in the ground, but did not provide any details about the victims.
The army, under the command of the new head of the army, Lieutenant Gen. Eyal Zamir, prepared himself to return to the war in Gaza, if an agreement with Hamas cannot be reached on the extension of the 42-day suspension of weapons agreed last month.
But a visit in the coming days from the special envoy of the US President Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, who conducted direct talks with Hamas, there were no tips that Israel gave up further suspension of weapons.
The delegation from Hamas came to Cairo for talks with Egyptian mediators, who helped to facilitate conversations with officials from Qatar, aimed at going to the next stage of the contract, which can open the way to the end of the war.
In apparent effort to put pressure on Israel, Hamas released a video depicting an Israeli soldier Matan Angrest, one of 59 Israeli and foreign hostages who are still taking place in the Gaza Strip.
Unclear or conversations about suspension suspension
Despite many hiccups, the arms suspension took place largely from January 19, enabling the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai for about 2,000 prisoners and Palestinian detained.
It is not clear, however, whether talks about the release of other hostages and the end of Israeli withdrawal from the gauze will continue, despite the pressure of Trump, who demanded that Hamas pass all those who continue to hold or set destructive consequences.
Israel demanded a return of hostages and an extension of the truce by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to the Jewish holidays of Passover in April. But he did not agree to the opening of conversations that would include issues such as the final withdrawal of his soldiers from Gaza and the post -war administration of the enclave.
Israel claims that it will continue to block all humanitarian aid in Gaza, unless Hamas agrees to extend the first phase of the weapon suspension agreement, which has expired on Saturday. Hamas wants to go directly to phase 2 of the original agreement, which covers all Israeli forces retreating from gauze.
Zamir, the new military head of Israel, has been visiting soldiers since the acceptance of Israel's defensive forces this week and said that the army is ready to return to the fight in gas if it is ordered.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health and officials in the Al-Ahly hospital said that two people were killed in the Friday drone strike in the Shyiaia region in Gaza City. A similar incident on Thursday killed three people. The army said that the strike was also attacked by people who watched the planting of the bomb near the Israeli troops.
On the first Friday of Ramadan, thousands entered Jerusalem surrounded by the Old Town to pray in the Al-Aqsa mosque, and Israel allows a limited number of older Palestinians and children from the occupied west shore to the city.
“We have not arrived for three or four years, but thank God for happiness and joy that we were able to reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This is the greatest joy for Muslims, “said Salah Aleiwi, who came from the west shore.
The voltage increases on the west bank
The mosque, on the spot in the Old Town in Jerusalem, which Jews call the Mountain Temple and Revere as the place of two ancient temples, is a holy place for both religions and has long focused on clashes that sometimes spirained in a broader conflict.
Tensions on the west shore increased among the weekly Israeli operation against Palestinian refugee camps, in which soldiers destroyed dozens of houses and destroyed roads and other infrastructure, sending tens of thousands of residents of the camp from their homes.
Israel claims that the operation is directed against the Palestinian groups of fighters rooted in the camps supported by Iranian.
On Friday, in the narrow cobbled streets of the Old Town there was a serious distribution of the police, but there are no reports of serious problems.
“Israeli police are spread over Jerusalem and Israel to allow a safe environment to arrive all these worshipers,” said Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne.
In recent years, the Israeli authorities have regularly limited access to the mosque complex, citing the needs of security, and Friday's entry was conditional to approve the police, even for those who qualified by age.
Ibtisam Abdul Fattah, a 65-year-old from the west bank, said that she twice turned at the Qalandiya control point north of Jerusalem. “We are in our land, but we are not allowed,” she said.