No progress at Cairo ceasefire talks: Hamas official
Talks on a truce in the Gaza conflict are making progress in Cairo and all parties have agreed on basic points, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News state-affiliated TV channel says, citing a senior Egyptian source.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (R) meeting CIA Director William J. Burns (L) at the Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, Egypt, 07 April 2024. EPA/Egyptian Presidential Office
However a Hamas official says no progress has been made at a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo also attended by delegations from Israel, Qatar and the United States.
“There is no change in the position of the occupation and therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,” the Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Monday.
“There is no progress yet,” he said.
Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on Sunday, following the arrival on Saturday of CIA Director William Burns, whose participation followed US pressure for a deal that would free hostages held in Gaza and ease the humanitarian crisis there.
Israel and Hamas, at war in the Gaza Strip since October, have failed so far to resolve disagreements over their main demands.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the Cairo talks as the closest the sides have come to a deal since a November truce under which Hamas freed dozens of hostages.,
“We have reached a critical point in the negotiations,” he told Israel’s Army Radio. “If it works out, then a large number of hostages will come home.”
Hamas seized 253 people during an October 7 killing spree in southern Israel that triggered the war.
Of those, 129 hostages remain, and negotiators have spoken of about 40 going free in the first stage of a prospective deal with Hamas.
Hamas wants an end to Israel’s offensive and a full Israeli withdrawal from the shattered territory, while Israel wants a deal to free hostages from Gaza in exchange for Palestinians in its jails without a commitment to end the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that despite growing international pressure, Israel would not give in to “extreme” Hamas demands.
But Israeli officials have signalled a willingness to allow some Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza to return there.
While saying he was more optimistic than before about a diplomatic breakthrough, Katz said: “Israel is poised to continue the war.”
Thousands of Israeli protesters in Jerusalem rallied on Sunday demanding the government do more to recover the hostages.
Western countries have voiced outrage over what they see as an unacceptably high Palestinian civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza that have resulted from Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas.
Hamas killed 1200 people in southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 33,100 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli response, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Hamas has said it has lost 6000 fighters, while Israel says the number is twice as high.
More than 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza combat, the army says.
REUTERS
