GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, April  6, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - American,
Israeli and Hamas negotiators are expected in Cairo over the weekend in a
renewed push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in a war that reaches the
half-year mark on Sunday.

Egypt's Al-Qahera News said CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime
Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani would join
Egyptian mediators for Sunday's indirect talks between the Israeli and Hamas
delegations.

Ahead of the talks Hamas, confirmed its core demands -- a complete
ceasefire in Gaza and withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The ceasefire attempt comes after Israel's military made a rare admission
of wrongdoing and said it was firing two officers over the killing of seven aid
workers in Gaza where humanitarians say famine is imminent.

The admission did not quell calls for an independent probe, however.

The deaths of the workers from US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) on
April 1 led to a tense call between US President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden urged an "immediate ceasefire" and for the first time hinted at
conditioning US support for Israel on curtailing the killing of civilians and
improving humanitarian conditions.

The bloodiest-ever Gaza war began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack
from Gaza by Hamas militants resulting in the death of 1,170 people in southern
Israel, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

Palestinian militants also took around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages,
about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including more than 30 the army says are dead.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the territory,
killing at least 33,137 people, mostly women and children, according to the
health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

- Iran vows revenge -

The UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths decried Israel's war against
Hamas and called for a "collective determination that there be a reckoning for
this betrayal of humanity".

Fears that the war could spread intensified after Iran vowed retaliation
after seven Revolutionary Guards were killed in an air strike Monday on the
consular annex of its embassy in Damascus.

Ahead of the weekend talks, Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar
urging them to secure commitments from Hamas to "agree to and abide by a deal",
a senior administration official told AFP.

Stop-start talks have made no headway since a week-long truce in November
saw some hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.

The White House confirmed negotiations would occur this weekend in Cairo,
and Hamas said its delegation would head there on Sunday.
But Hamas also restated its key demands.

"Hamas confirms its adherence to the position it presented on March 14 ...
and we will not back down from this position," a statement said.

"The demands ... are complete ceasefire, withdrawal of the occupation
forces from Gaza, the return of the displaced to their residential areas,
freedom of movement of the people, offering them aid and shelter, and a serious
hostage exchange deal," it said.

Biden's Thursday call with Netanyahu included discussions on "empowering
his negotiators" to reach a deal, National Security Council spokesman John
Kirby said.

Washington blames the lack of a deal on Hamas's refusal to release sick and
other vulnerable hostages. Qatar has said Israeli objections to the return of
displaced Gazans are the main holdup.

Biden is under pressure over massive US military aid to Israel which, so
far, Washington has not leveraged despite increasingly critical comments about
Israel's conduct of the war.
The Israeli military announced it was firing two officers after finding a
series of errors led to the drone strikes that killed the WCK workers.
WCK said its Gaza operations remain suspended after the attack, while other
global aid groups said relief work in the territory has become almost
impossible.

- 'Criminal' -

The army said a commander "mistakenly assumed" Hamas had seized the aid
vehicles, which were moving at night.

Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Saturday Canberra had "not yet
received sufficient information" from Israel about the death of Lalzawmi "Zomi"
Frankcom and the other aid workers.

"It cannot be brushed aside and it cannot be covered over," Wong said.
WCK said Israel "cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza".
Britain called for a "wholly independent review", while Poland sought a
"criminal" probe.

Hours after Biden and Netanyahu spoke, Israel announced it would allow
"temporary" aid deliveries through Ashdod port and the Erez border crossing.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for a "paradigm shift" rather than
"scattered measures".

- 'Dying from hunger' -

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's Civil Defence agency, told AFP on
Saturday that aid reaching Gaza is "absolutely not sufficient" for its 2.4
million people, with basic necessities "extremely scarce" particularly in the
north.

"Children are dying from hunger" there, he said.
Around 1.5 million Gazans are sheltering in the territory's far south, in
Rafah.

"We are ordinary citizens and human beings," Siham Achur, 50, said in the
tent that is now her family's home. "Why did they bomb our house?"
They had lived in Khan Yunis for 30 years, Achur said, but those memories
"have become dust".

On Saturday, Israel's military said warplanes had killed Akram Salamah, a
"senior" militant it said held several positions including Hamas's deputy chief
for Khan Yunis.

Troops also recovered from Khan Yunis the body of Elad Katzir, who was
abducted on October 7 and "murdered in captivity" by Islamic Jihad, a group
fighting alongside Hamas, the army said.

The Israeli ambassador to Warsaw, Yacov Livne, said on social media that
Katzir had dual citizenship with Poland. The Polish foreign ministry said it
had received news of his death with "sadness".

His sister Carmit Palty Katzir blamed the Israeli authorities for Elad's
death, saying he would have returned alive had the authorities agreed to a new
truce.