Truce talks end without making headway as Ramadan looms
THE GAZA cease-fire talks involving Palestinian resistance group Hamas and a mediator ended yesterday without making headway with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan knocking at the door.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told Reuters they had presented a proposal for a cease-fire agreement to the mediators during two days of talks and was now waiting for a response from the Israelis, who stayed away from this round.
“(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press him for a deal, Naim said.
Israel has declined to comment publicly on the talks in Cairo.
A source told Reuters earlier that Israel was staying away because Hamas had rejected its demand to furnish a list of all hostages who are still alive. Naim said this was impossible without a cease-fire first as hostages were scattered across the war zone and held by separate groups.
The Cairo talks had been billed as a final hurdle to reach the war’s first extended cease-fire – a 40-day truce during which dozens of hostages would be freed and aid would be pumped into Gaza to stave off a manmade famine, ahead of Ramadan, which is due to begin at the start of next week.
Egyptian security sources said Monday they were still in touch with the Israelis to allow the negotiations to continue without an Israeli delegation present.
Washington, which is both Israel’s closest ally and a sponsor of the ceasefire talks, has said an Israeli-approved deal is already on the table and it is up to Hamas to accept it.
Hamas disputes this account as an attempt to deflect blame from Israel if the talks collapse with no deal.
The United States has also called on Israel to do more to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where more than 30,000 people have been killed by Israel’s assault, launched after the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion killed 1,160 people.