Israel closes Gaza's key Kerem Shalom border crossing after deadly attack claimed by Hamas

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Summary:

• Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday sharpened his rejection of Hamas's demands for an end to the Gaza war in exchange for the freeing of hostages, saying that would keep the Palestinian Islamist group in power and pose a threat to Israel.
• Hamas leaders held a second day of truce talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators on Sunday, with no apparent progress reported as the Islamist group maintained its demand that any agreement must end the war in Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

• A Hamas official said Sunday the group's delegation for Gaza truce talks in Cairo was heading to Qatar as truce talks with mediators in the Egyptian capital closed without a breakthrough.

• Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to close Qatari television network Al Jazeera's operations in Israel, according to a government statement. Al Jazeera condemned the move as "criminal", while Hamas said the decision was a "blatant violation of press freedom" and an effort to hide the "truth" about the Gaza war. 

• At least 34,683 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 78,018 have been wounded in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.

Yesterday's key developments:

• A Hamas delegation arrived  in Egypt for the latest round of talks on a Gaza ceasefire. Al-Qahera News, linked to Egyptian intelligence services, quoted an unnamed high-ranking source as saying that “significant progress in the negotiations” had been made between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.

• A top Israeli official seemed to downplay the reports of progress in the negotiations, saying that Israel will send a delegation to Cairo for talks on a Gaza truce only if it sees "positive movement" on a framework for a hostage deal. "What we are looking at is an agreement over a framework for a possible hostage deal," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)