Supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) party hold placards during a rally in support of women in Gaza, to mark International Women's Day in Lahore Saturday.
Supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) party hold placards during a rally in support of women in Gaza, to mark International Women's Day in Lahore Saturday.
Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said Saturday that there were "positive" signs regarding the start of negotiations for the second phase of the fragile Gaza ceasefire, as a delegation from the Palestinian group met with mediators in Cairo.
"The efforts of the Egyptian and Qatari mediators are ongoing to complete the implementation of the ceasefire agreement," Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement, adding that "the indicators are positive regarding the start of negotiations for the second phase," without providing further details.
Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, along with dozens of freed captives, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire deal and prevent a return to war.
"The war could resume in a week ... Only an agreement that brings them all at once will ensure their return," said Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, a hostage still held in Gaza.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, though hostilities have not resumed.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.
Several relatives of hostages still held in Gaza rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday evening, joining hundreds who took to the streets urging Netanyahu to implement the remaining parts of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Omri Lifshitz, whose father's remains were returned last month in a hostage-prisoner swap under the ceasefire deal, also took aim at the prime minister.
"Netanyahu, if you restart the war, hostages will die because of you. Their blood will be on your hands," Lifshitz said.
This comes a day after a group of 56 captives freed from Gaza also urged Netanyahu to fully implement the ceasefire deal.
The group said in a letter posted on social media platform Instagram on Friday evening: "Implement the agreement in full, in one single manoeuvre."
As mediators pushed ahead with talks to extend a shaky 42-day ceasefire agreed in January between Israel and Hamas, an Israeli airstrike killed two people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip Saturday, medical sources said.
The strike comes one day after an Israeli drone strike killed two people in Gaza on Friday.
The fresh attacks come as a delegation from Hamas engages in ceasefire talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators who have been helping facilitate the talks along with officials from Qatar, aiming to proceed to the next stage of the deal, which could open the way to ending the war.
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