CAIRO: Israeli strikes killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza Strip on Thursday, as Hamas leaders met mediators in Cairo to discuss ways to reinvigorate a fragile six-month-old US-brokered truce.

Medics said an Israeli strike killed three people near the Salahudeen road, in central Gaza Strip, and another killed one person near a hospital in the city of Deir Al Balah further south.

Violence in Gaza has persisted despite an October ceasefire, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other for truce violations.

At least 800 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, according to local medics.

On Thursday, a Hamas official said a delegation from the group arrived in Cairo two days earlier for meetings with mediators over President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan.

Sources close to the talks said efforts to push Israel and Hamas into the implementation of a second phase have made little progress.

According to the plan, Israel is meant to pull back further in the second phase as a transitional authority assumes control in Gaza and a multinational security force is deployed. Hamas is supposed to be disarmed, under the plan, as reconstruction begins.

More than 72,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct 2023.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2026