Turkey spy chief talks Gaza truce with Hamas leader
Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022. (File photo: AFP)
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met senior Hamas leaders on Sunday for talks on Gaza's humanitarian tragedy and efforts to reach a ceasefire, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Kalin held talks with Mohammad Darwish, head of the political council of Hamas that rules Gaza, and his delegation at an undisclosed location, Anadolu said, citing security sources.
They discussed the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza and Turkey's efforts to end the war and "ensure the immediate passage of aid" to the territory.
They also spoke of "the need to reach a consensus among Palestinian groups during this critical period... (and) the steps to be taken to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza," the sources said.
The meeting came after US President Donald Trump voiced optimism about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, saying Friday it could happen "within the next week".
Mediators have engaged in months of negotiations aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, where Israel stopped all food entering over two months ago, leading to warnings of famine.
It has since allowed a resumption of food deliveries through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation involving US security contractors, with Israeli troops at the periphery.
Witnesses and Gaza officials have reported multiple instances of Palestinians being killed while trying to get aid.
Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed 23 people in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory on Sunday, including at least three children.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that his services "transported 23 martyrs, including several children and women" killed in various locations around the Gaza Strip.
Bassal said two children were killed in an air strike on their home in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood in the early morning, adding "the house was completely destroyed".
A family member, Abdel Rahman Azzam, 45, told AFP he was at home when he "heard a huge explosion at my relative's house".
"I rushed out in panic and saw the house destroyed and on fire," he added.
"We evacuated more than 20 injured people, including two martyrs — two children from the family. The screams of children and women were non-stop," Azzam said.
"They bombed the house with a missile without any prior warning. This is a horrific crime. We sleep without knowing if we will wake up."
Elsewhere, Bassal said a drone strike on a tent housing displaced people near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed five people, including a child, while four more people were killed by Israeli gunfire in Rafah, also in the south.
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