CAIRO/JERUSALEM: An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, medical sources said, as mediators pushed ahead with talks to extend a shaky 42-day ceasefire agreed in January between Israel and Hamas.

The Israeli military said its aircraft struck a drone that crossed from Israel into southern Gaza and “several suspects” who tried to collect it in what appeared to be a botched smuggling attempt.

The strike comes one day after an Israeli drone strike killed two people in Gaza on Friday. The Israeli military said it attacked a group of suspected fighters operating near its troops in northern Gaza and planting an explosive device in the ground.

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.

One dead as air force strikes Hezbollah base in Lebanon

Hamas said there are “positive indicators” over the possible start of negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire deal, without giving further details.

“We affirm our readiness to engage in the second-phase negotiations in a way that meets the demands of our people, and we call for intensified efforts to aid the Gaza Strip and lift the blockade on our suffering people,” the group’s spokesman, Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua, said in a statement.

Fighting has been halted since Jan 19 and Hamas has released 33 Israeli prisoners and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israeli authorities believe fewer than half of the remaining 59 prisoners are still alive.

Lebanon strike

The Israeli military said it targeted a Hezbollah fighter with an air strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday, as Lebanese media reported one killed and another wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a car.

“A short while ago, the IAF (air force) struck a Hezbollah fighter who was engaged in re-establishing infrastructure and directing Hezbollah activities in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.

“The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel and will prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to rebuild itself.”

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported one killed and one wounded in an “Israeli drone strike” on a car in the southern village of Kherbet Selm, citing the health ministry. The Israeli military said it had conducted “intelligence-based strikes” on Hezbollah military sites in southern Lebanon.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2025