As negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza continue, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "Netanyahu agreed on Monday to a U.S. bridging proposal to reach an agreement after their meeting in Tel Aviv." A joint statement from the United States, Qatar, and Egypt indicated that "the mediators presented a proposal to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas last week to address the remaining differences between the two sides." Blinken noted that "the next step in the ceasefire talks is for Hamas to say yes," adding that he "arrived in Egypt on Tuesday for talks with senior officials to get the latest updates from Hamas." High-level negotiations are expected to resume this week in either the Egyptian or Qatari capital.
On the same day, representatives of the Israeli hostage families forum stated that Netanyahu informed them that Israel would not vacate the Philadelphi corridor, a 14-kilometer strip of land serving as a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza, and he also appeared to cast doubt on the hostage agreement and ceasefire. Netanyahu mentioned in the meeting that "there may not be an agreement," but this statement came in the context of the possibility of Hamas refusing to reach an agreement, according to Zvika Mor, father of hostage Eitan Mor, from the Tikva forum in an interview with CNN.
However, the Israeli military operation is still ongoing, with airstrikes across Gaza resulting in the deaths of at least 40 people on Tuesday, according to officials in the Palestinian sector. At least eight people were killed, and four others remain missing after an Israeli airstrike targeted a school that authorities claimed thousands of displaced people were seeking refuge in from the violence. Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the civil defense in Gaza, told CNN that most of the dead and wounded in the strike on the Mustafa Hafiz school were women and children, and several people are still trapped under the rubble.
The Israeli army stated in a press release that the Israeli Air Force "carried out a precise strike on groups that were operating within Hamas's command and control center located inside the school," and that "several steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precision munitions, aerial monitoring, and additional intelligence." Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted schools being used as shelters for civilians in Gaza, claiming that Hamas operates within those complexes.
Later on Tuesday, at least nine people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Deir al-Balah in the center of the country, according to health officials at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city.
