Cairo demands permanent Gaza ceasefire before Paris meeting

Egypt has told the US that a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a phased but full detainee and hostage swap will be central to any agreement to end the three-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, sources told The National.

Cairo’s position was conveyed to US officials before a meeting in Paris yesterday between the chiefs of the US, Egyptian and Israeli intelligence agencies and senior Qatari officials.

The meeting, which has not been announced by any of the parties, was expected to discuss a deal to pause the fighting in Gaza for two months and win the release of about 130 hostages held by Hamas.

Two White House officials told Reuters that the proposed agreement would play out in two phases.

In the first phase, fighting would stop to allow Hamas to release the remaining female, elderly and wounded hostages.

During the first 30 days, Israel and Hamas would aim to work out the details of a second exchange to see the release of Israeli soldiers and male civilians.

The agreement also requires Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Egypt’s insistence on a permanent ceasefire, an agreement to exchange the remaining hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza mirror Hamas’s demands.

The militant group has told Egyptian mediators these three conditions are essential, the sources said.

Egypt, Qatar and the US mediated a truce in late November, when about 100 hostages were exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. The truce ended on

December 1. Egypt has called for a ceasefire followed by the establishment of an interim administration to govern Gaza through its reconstruction and efforts to reconcile rival Palestinian factions.

“The Hamas leadership in Gaza went off the grid last week for at least two days to make clear its rejection of suggestions that there will only be a pause, not a permanent ceasefire,” a source said.

“Yahya Sinwar [Hamas’s leader in Gaza] has told the group’s leaders in Qatar and Lebanon to toe the line and not to give as much as a hint that Hamas will accept less.”

The sources confirmed Israeli media reports that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has refused to take calls from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the three months since the war began.

Cairo was deeply angered by Mr Netanyahu’s suggestion that Israel must control the Gaza side of the enclave’s border with Egypt, they said.

Mr Netanyahu said Israeli control of the Gaza side of the border would be aimed at curbing weapons smuggling.

Withdrawal of Israeli troops and exchange of Palestinian detainees for Israeli hostages are high priorities for the sides