An Egyptian delegation is in Tel Aviv trying to broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinians amid the escalating fighting between the two groups.
The delegation met with Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip on Thursday before going to Tel Aviv to talk with Israeli officials, according to the Associated Press. Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shukry criticized Israel’s actions during a Wednesday night conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi.
“During the conversation, Shoukry stressed the need to stop Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territories and noted the importance of work to save the peoples of the region from further escalation and the use of military force,” the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
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Both sides have exchanged rocket fire in recent days though Israel has the Iron Dome, a defense system designed to neutralize such attacks, and many of the rockets Hamas fires land back in Gaza.
The death total has reached 83 Palestinians, including 17 children and seven women, with nearly 500 people injured, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Of those, Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed group, confirmed seven militants died, and Hamas, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, acknowledged a top commander and several other members were killed.
Israeli officials allege Hamas is downplaying how many militants have been killed.
Seven people have been killed in Israel, and among them were a 6-year-old child and a soldier.
The Israeli military claims that more than 1,600 rockets have been fired since Monday and that a quarter of them have landed inside Gaza. They also claim the Iron Dome has intercepted 90% of the rockets.
Israeli officials have noted that they have struck around 600 targets inside Gaza.
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The fighting in Israel, which has escalated over the last week, is the biggest flair up between the two groups since 2014. That conflict was largely concentrated in the Gaza and the bordering Israeli communities.
The recent violence began in Jerusalem, where Israeli officials are looking to forcibly evict Palestinian families from their homes, similar to the 2000 Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.
