Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has told AFP that there had been a hitch in plans to declared a truce in and around Gaza Strip. The Damascus-based leader did not elaborate on the nature of the problem but said he no longer expected Egyptian mediators to announce a deal on Sunday as originally planned.
"The Egyptians had told us that the announcement of this truce would be made on Sunday but there has been a complication and we don't know if that date will be kept to," Meshaal told AFP.
On the ground, early Saturday, six people were wounded when two Israeli air strikes hit targets in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics and witnesses said. One strike targeted a workshop in the Jabaliya refugee camp, injuring six people, they said. A second air strike hit an open area in the camp, causing no injuries or damage.
An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the two raids, saying they had been directed at "weapons-producing sites in Jabaliya refugee camp." "It was also a response to the two Qassam rockets and a mortar shell which were fired at Israel" on Friday, she said.
