Egypt hosts Hamas in new Gaza Strip ceasefire push
A US official has talked up the chances of a potential ceasefire and hostage deal in the Gaza Strip as a Hamas delegation visits Egypt.
Israeli soldiers patrol the the Gaza-Egypt border Photo by TPS-IL
Hamas leaders have held talks with Egyptian security officials in a fresh push for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, two Hamas sources say, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to hold security talks on the matter, two Israeli officials say.
The Hamas visit to Cairo was the first since the United States announced on Wednesday it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to negotiate a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, that would include a hostage deal.
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said he thought the chances of a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Palestinian territory were now more likely.
“(Hamas) are isolated. Hezbollah is no longer fighting with them, and their backers in Iran and elsewhere are preoccupied with other conflicts,” he told CNN on Sunday.
“So I think we may have a chance to make progress but I’m not going to predict exactly when it will happen … we’ve come so close so many times and not gotten across the finish line.”
Through several rounds of negotiations over the past year, Hamas has insisted that any deal should conclude with Israel ending the war while Israel says the war will end when Hamas no longer rules the Gaza Strip or poses a threat to Israelis.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday that there was some indication of progress toward a hostage deal but that Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed.
“We will know in the coming days. From our perspective – the government of Israel – there is a desire to advance in this direction,” he said at an Israel Hayom newspaper conference.
Fighting raged on meanwhile in the enclave and the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said it had to halt aid deliveries through one crossing a day after armed gangs inside Gaza seized food from a truck convoy.
“This difficult decision comes at a time hunger is rapidly deepening,” UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.
The halting of aid deliveries through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing came almost two weeks after a large shipment was hijacked on the same route.
Lazzarini said it was Israel’s responsibility “as occupying power” to protect aid workers and supplies, and that the humanitarian operation had become “unnecessarily impossible” due to what he said were Israeli restrictions.
COGAT, the Israeli military department responsible for aid transfers, denies it is hindering humanitarian relief into Gaza, saying there is no limit on supplies for civilians and blaming delays on the United Nations, which it says is inefficient.
The conflict started when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1200 people and abducting more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
Reuters
