Palestine weekly wrap: Israel presses deeper into Gaza as Cairo talks begin

Eight months into the Gaza ceasefire agreement that exists more on paper than on the ground, the past week saw the agreement’s terms continue to erode. While Palestinian factions convened in Cairo, ostensibly to help move the agreement past its first phase, Israel pressed its hold on Gaza further – extending barriers of earth along an ever-widening “Yellow Line,” demolishing homes nightly, and killing displaced families in strikes that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, pushed the post-ceasefire death toll past 970. Immediately following the latest exchange of fire with Iran on Sunday, Israel sealed Gaza’s last open crossings entirely, before announcing they would reopen on Tuesday. Recommended Stories list of 3 items end of list And in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence, land seizures and military raids continued to intensify – much of it, according to residents and rights monitors, with soldiers standing by or actively assisting. …