Palestinian militant group Hamas announced on Sunday that it requested the Peace Council to force Israel to accept the peace plan for Gaza.
The announcement followed talks in Egypt between leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement and United States envoy Jared Kushner, according to an official statement released by Hamas.
Hamas called on international mediators and the Peace Council to take up their responsibilities and compel Israel to approve the roadmap for the second phase of President Donald Trump's peace plan. The group also demanded that officials begin drafting a timetable for its implementation.
Hamas is the Sunni Islamist political and military organization that has governed the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave on the Mediterranean coast. Jared Kushner, a former senior advisor in the Trump administration, has been acting as a diplomatic envoy in negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict in the region.
The news was reported by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency and published by Greek news outlet Capital.gr on Sunday evening.
Talks in Egypt and Regional Reaction
Jared Kushner held a series of meetings in Egypt focused on the Trump administration's Gaza peace plan while Israeli military operations continued across the Palestinian enclave. Sources within the Palestinian Islamist movement indicated that Kushner met with Hamas leaders in the northern Egyptian coastal town of El Alamein, though US officials did not publicly confirm the meeting.
Diplomatic activity involving Egypt, Turkey, and Hamas intensified ahead of scheduled visits by Kushner to both Egypt and Israel to advance negotiations. Meanwhile, eight Muslim nations issued a joint statement condemning Israel's refusal to proceed with the peace framework while talks were underway in Egypt.
Escalation and Fatal Strikes in Lebanon
As diplomatic negotiations continued in Egypt, military tension escalated along Israel's northern border. Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people and injured 19 others in a single day of attacks.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun publicly denounced the Israeli strikes, stating that one attack killed an entire family. Following the casualties, the Lebanese Shia Islamist political and military organization Hezbollah threatened to launch retaliatory strikes against Israeli positions.
The military action followed an earlier Israeli strike in southern Lebanon that left nine people dead. That strike was described as one of the deadliest single incidents in the area since the establishment of the recent peace framework.
Settler Blockades and Diplomatic Friction
Tensions also flared in the West Bank, where Israeli activists attempted to resupply besieged Palestinian residents in the village of Qusra. Dozens of Israeli settlers blocked access routes to local homes, leaving village residents cut off from basic food supplies.
On the international stage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the United Kingdom, describing it as the first Islamic republic destined to acquire nuclear weapons.
At the same time, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan raised objections to growing regional cooperation, asserting that a tripartite alliance among Greece, Cyprus, and Israel was specifically directed against Turkey.
Maritime Disputes and Security Developments
Regional friction further expanded into maritime jurisdiction after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared two new Turkish marine parks in the region. The Greek Foreign Ministry rejected the unilateral move as illegal, stating that the parks ignore the Greek island of Kastellorizo and create no legal precedent in the Aegean or Eastern Mediterranean seas.
In security operations elsewhere, the commander of the United States Central Command commended the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln for their operational performance in the region.
International Incidents and Domestic Wire Reports
Beyond the Middle East conflict, Italian authorities reported the theft of four paintings by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina from a museum in Sicily. In South America, severe weather and heavy rainfall in Venezuela caused widespread flooding, resulting in three confirmed deaths.
In Europe, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn announced measures to convert older train carriages for use in ongoing drought relief efforts across Germany.
In Greece, emergency services responded to multiple wildfires. Firefighters contained a blaze in Kritsa, Lasithi, while the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation service recorded a burnt area of 3,636 stremmata on Skyros island. On Salamina island near Athens, a wildfire claimed two lives and forced the maritime evacuation of 593 people, while a major industrial fire in Larissa prompted a 112 emergency warning over dense smoke.
In financial enforcement news, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue in Greece imposed a fine of 1.32 million euros on a vehicle rental business found to be renting out 132 automobiles that had been officially declared inactive.
