The 15-month war against Hamas in Gaza was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel in which Gazans killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 others to the Strip, in the worst single-day attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Egypt’s state information service reports that talks have begun on the second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas in Cairo, just one day before the first phase of the truce is set to expire.