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Gaza Truce Mediators in Cairo to Discuss Second Phase

The tents of Palestinian families surrounded by destroyed buildings during a rainy day in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 25 November 2025. (EPA)
The tents of Palestinian families surrounded by destroyed buildings during a rainy day in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 25 November 2025. (EPA)
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Gaza Truce Mediators in Cairo to Discuss Second Phase

The tents of Palestinian families surrounded by destroyed buildings during a rainy day in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 25 November 2025. (EPA)
The tents of Palestinian families surrounded by destroyed buildings during a rainy day in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 25 November 2025. (EPA)

Delegations from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, mediators along with the United States of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, met on Tuesday in Cairo to discuss the second phase of the deal, Egyptian state-linked media reported.

Al-Qahera News, which has ties to Egyptian intelligence, said the meeting included the Egyptian and Turkish intelligence chiefs alongside the prime minister of Qatar.

The delegates discussed working with the US "to ensure the successful implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement" between Israel and Hamas, the channel reported.

Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye and the US act as both mediators and guarantors for the Gaza deal, which came into effect on October 10 after two years of war.

Their meeting in Cairo came two days after a senior Hamas delegation met with Egyptian spy chief Hassan Rashad to discuss the second phase of the truce.

That phase concerns disarming Hamas, establishing a transitional authority and deploying an international stabilization force of foreign troops to the Gaza Strip.

According to Al-Qahera News, Tuesday's meeting addressed "overcoming obstacles and limiting violations to ensure the ceasefire holds".

Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.

According to the Gaza health ministry, Israeli fire has killed more than 300 Palestinians since the truce took hold.

The mediators on Tuesday also "agreed to continue strengthening coordination and cooperation with the Civil-Military Coordination Centre" -- the truce monitoring center set up by the US and its allies in southern Israel.

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Arab World

Lebanon Seeking to Leverage US Support in Negotiations with Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting with Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad (out of frame) and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (out of frame) at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting with Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad (out of frame) and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (out of frame) at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Seeking to Leverage US Support in Negotiations with Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting with Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad (out of frame) and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (out of frame) at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting with Lebanon's Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad (out of frame) and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (out of frame) at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 14, 2026. (AFP)

Efforts to extend the ceasefire in Lebanon are accelerating amid Israeli reports of a new round of talks at the ambassador level paving the way for direct negotiations.

Lebanese officials say a meeting between President Joseph Aoun and US President Donald Trump could be scheduled “at any moment,” stressing it will remain bilateral and will not include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has confirmed a US push to extend the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel. However, official Lebanese sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Beirut does not view the expected talks as limited to extending the truce, which expires at the end of the week.

The next step, the sources said, would be direct negotiations. Lebanon is ready to proceed after naming its delegation head, Ambassador Simon Karam, and preparing the necessary files.

Lebanese and Israeli representatives will hold talks in Washington on Thursday, a US State Department spokesperson told Reuters on Monday.

Aoun said Lebanon would conduct the talks through a delegation led by Karam, stressing no other party would represent or replace it.

Lebanese ministerial sources said the meeting would focus on extending the truce and setting a framework for direct negotiations, including their timing and location.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa met Aoun and Berri after returning to Beirut following the ceasefire announcement, without making public statements.

Berri confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington is working to extend the truce but declined to comment on direct negotiations.

In a statement, Aoun noted the goal of the talks is to halt hostilities, end Israel’s presence in southern areas and deploy the Lebanese army along internationally recognized borders.

Trump had shown understanding of Lebanon’s position and intervened to help secure the ceasefire and launch a negotiating track aimed at restoring full Lebanese sovereignty, he remarked.

“The choice is between continued war, with its humanitarian, social and economic costs, or negotiations to end it and achieve lasting stability,” Aoun stated.

Hezbollah, for its part, has criticized the move toward direct talks. MP Hassan Fadlallah told AFP it would be in Lebanon’s interest to abandon that path and return to a national consensus, warning against unilateral decisions on issues tied to the country’s future.

He said the group would oppose any attempt to impose political concessions, calling for a sustained ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, the return of displaced residents, the release of detainees and reconstruction.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Paul Morcos stressed that the Lebanese president values Saudi Arabia’s role in securing the ceasefire, noting Riyadh’s diplomacy contributed to the truce.

Lebanon continues to count on Saudi and broader Gulf support, he said, describing those ties as strategic and based on shared principles, including sovereignty and independence.

Arab World

Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency Says 3 Killed in Israeli Strike

A child stands in a destroyed building overlooking makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2026. (AFP)
A child stands in a destroyed building overlooking makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2026. (AFP)
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Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency Says 3 Killed in Israeli Strike

A child stands in a destroyed building overlooking makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2026. (AFP)
A child stands in a destroyed building overlooking makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on April 18, 2026. (AFP)

Gaza's civil defense agency said Tuesday that an Israeli strike killed three people in the Palestinian territory overnight, with Israeli warplanes seen soaring over the region after the assault, according to AFP journalists.

Despite an October 10 ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as both the Israeli military and Hamas accuse one another of breaching the truce.

"Three people were killed as a result of an Israeli strike at midnight in the vicinity of the Al-Zaqzouq junction in Al-Amal neighborhood, northwest of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip," spokesman for Gaza's civil defense agency Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.

Israel and Hamas regularly accuse each other of violating the ceasefire, which came into effect after two years of war triggered by Hamas' October 7, 2023 cross-border attack.

More than 770 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the truce.

Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.

Arab World

UN Security Council Condemns Killing of French Peacekeeper in Lebanon

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Diodato Abagnara pays tribute to Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio, who was killed while clearing a road in southern Lebanon in an attack that UNIFIL peacekeepers and French officials said was likely carried out by Hezbollah, at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, April 19, 2026. (Haidar Fahs/UNIFIL/Handout via Reuters)
UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Diodato Abagnara pays tribute to Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio, who was killed while clearing a road in southern Lebanon in an attack that UNIFIL peacekeepers and French officials said was likely carried out by Hezbollah, at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, April 19, 2026. (Haidar Fahs/UNIFIL/Handout via Reuters)
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UN Security Council Condemns Killing of French Peacekeeper in Lebanon

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Diodato Abagnara pays tribute to Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio, who was killed while clearing a road in southern Lebanon in an attack that UNIFIL peacekeepers and French officials said was likely carried out by Hezbollah, at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, April 19, 2026. (Haidar Fahs/UNIFIL/Handout via Reuters)
UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Diodato Abagnara pays tribute to Sergeant-Chef Florian Montorio, who was killed while clearing a road in southern Lebanon in an attack that UNIFIL peacekeepers and French officials said was likely carried out by Hezbollah, at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, April 19, 2026. (Haidar Fahs/UNIFIL/Handout via Reuters)

The UN Security Council on Monday condemned the recent killing of a French peacekeeper in Lebanon, whose death France has blamed on Hezbollah.

The Frenchman was killed and three others wounded when their unit was ambushed on Saturday as it headed to a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) outpost cut off from the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack...(and) reaffirmed their full support for UNIFIL" a statement from the UN body said.