The Israeli army continued its escalation in the Gaza Strip through the shelling of buildings and gunfire across several areas of the enclave, killing 6 people, including 4 members of the same family, while Palestinian factions held intensive consultations in Cairo to discuss new amendments proposed by the UN Security Council's top envoy for Gaza, Nikolay Mladenov, regarding understandings on the Gaza Strip, in the presence of regional and international mediators.
A medical source at Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City reported the killing of two girls and their parents after an Israeli airstrike targeted their home near the Aviation Roundabout in the centre of the city.
In the south of the Strip, Israeli tanks stationed south of Rafah's Al-Mawasi area opened fire towards areas near the front lines, simultaneously with demolition operations targeting residential blocks northwest of Rafah city, killing 2 people.
Israeli naval vessels also opened intensive fire towards the sea off the southern Gaza Strip, while tanks continued firing towards the southern areas of Khan Younis, raising fears among displaced persons in the targeted areas. According to eyewitnesses, the areas targeted by Israel fall outside the zones of army deployment and control stipulated under the agreement. Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement have, as of Saturday, resulted in the killing of 1,012 Palestinians and the wounding of 3,208 others, according to official figures.
Meanwhile, sources revealed that Hamas is studying an amended paper from the Security Council, delivered by Nikolay Mladenov, for implementing Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza. The paper includes the consolidation and storage of weapons under the supervision of a national committee, an international stabilisation force, and the transfer of governing functions to a national committee during a transitional period of no less than 2 years, along with guarantees of Israeli compliance, with a response expected within this week.
Sources confirmed that the movement informed mediators it is conducting discussions on the amended paper before submitting its response.
Sources expected the response to be "positive" and to come within this week, but noted that the factions asked mediators to verify Israeli commitment to the paper — should it be approved — and to provide guarantees. This comes after approximately 2 weeks of meetings and talks with mediators, involving officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, the Security Council envoy Nikolay Mladenov, and technical representatives from the Security Council.