Trump’s envoys meet mediators, Israel strikes Gaza
Palestinians remove iron from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes during the war with Hamas, repair and recycle it for construction, building tents or selling it, in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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CAIRO: Donald Trump’s envoys met with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday (Aug 16), a diplomatic source said, aiming to advance the US president’s Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with airstrikes in the enclave.
Hamas officials were present at some of the meetings that mediators held with Trump’s envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump’s Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, the diplomat said.
A senior Israeli official said Kushner and Mladenov were scheduled to meet on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Aug 9 said Trump’s latest roadmap for Gaza peace was ‘unacceptable’.
GAZA MEDICS SAY STRIKES WOUNDED SEVERAL PEOPLE
The official said Israel was concerned about Washington’s demand to end targeted assassinations of Hamas militants in Gaza as the group rebuilds its forces.
Trump’s peace plan calls for the immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza. It foresees Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw from the enclave and as Gaza is rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
Israel has resumed airstrikes in the past few days after scaling back its attacks in the enclave earlier this month.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its aircraft struck two Islamic Jihad and Hamas militants in Khan Younis and Nuseirat. At least five Palestinians were wounded in the strike which hit a tent encampment, medics in the enclave said.
One of those wounded in the strike on Khan Younis in southern Gaza died from their wounds, medics at Nasser Hospital said later.
A separate airstrike, which the Israeli military said targeted another militant, hit an apartment in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, wounding several people, medics said.
Earlier, Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya met with Egypt’s intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in Cairo. Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, said Al-Hayya would brief mediators on what he said were Israel’s ceasefire violations.
MUSLIM POWERS CONDEMN ISRAELI REJECTION OF PLAN
Trump announced last month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war.
Hamas said it had agreed to the plan to avoid a resumption of the conflict, but added that implementation of the deal would depend on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawing its forces and halting attacks.
Five Arab countries and Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia condemned Israel’s rejection of the plan, saying in a joint statement on Sunday that it threatens Trump’s efforts to end the war in Gaza.
A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the joint statement.
Netanyahu’s Likud party, which has been struggling in the polls ahead of an Oct 27 national election, said in a post on X that the Arab countries want to topple Netanyahu so that his political rivals will “give them everything that they want”.
Hamas on Sunday called on mediators and the Board of Peace, which was set up as part of Trump’s peace plan, to compel Israel to meet its obligations of the plan’s first phase, end its violations of the ceasefire agreement, and approve the roadmap for the second phase of the plan, according to a statement from the group.
An October ceasefire halted major fighting in a devastating two-year war in Gaza that was sparked by Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, but it failed to end Israeli attacks entirely.
Israeli fire has killed more than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, since October 2025. It is unclear how many of those killed were militants, as Hamas does not usually disclose information about dead fighters.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period, according to Israeli figures.
Source: AFP/fs
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