Egypt sends delegation to Israel with ‘new vision’ for ceasefire

CAIRO — Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel on Friday for talks seeking to push through a ceasefire agreement with Hamas and avert an Israeli offensive on Gaza’s town of Rafah — on the border with Egypt — which, it warned, could ruin regional stability.

Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s top intelligence official, led the delegation and planned to discuss with Israel a “new vision” for a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, an Egyptian official said.

As the war drags on, there has been growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to agree on a ceasefire.

Friday’s talks focused at first on a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners, and the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimum restrictions,” the Egyptian official said.

The official said mediators are working on a compromise that will answer most of both parties’ main demands, then lead to continued negotiations with the goal of a larger deal to end the war. A Western diplomat in Cairo said that Egypt’s intensified efforts for a ceasefire aim to avert a Rafah offensive.

Hamas has said it will not back down from its demands for a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops, both of which Israel has rejected.

Israel says it will continue military operations until Hamas is defeated and that it will retain a security presence in Gaza afterwards.

Hamas said Friday it is open to any “ideas or suggestions” that take into consideration the needs of the Palestinian people such as an end to Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, the return of displaced people to their homes and an Israeli withdrawal.

Both Israeli and Egyptian officials confirmed the Egyptian delegation had arrived in Tel Aviv. Later, the Egyptian official said meetings had concluded and that there was an agreement to work out a draft deal, but he did not elaborate.

Overnight, Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed border area, killing an Israeli civilian.

Hezbollah said its fighters ambushed the convoy, destroying two vehicles. The Israeli military said the ambush wounded an Israeli civilian doing infrastructure work, and he later died.