Progress reported in Gaza cease-fire talks
TEL AVIV, Israel — A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported “noticeable progress” in cease-fire talks with Israel, though an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war in the Gaza Strip.
Pressure has mounted to reach a deal halting the nearly 7-month-long war. A top official with the United Nations said there is now a full-blown famine in northern Gaza, while Israel insists it will launch an offensive into Rafah, the territory’s southernmost city, on the border with Egypt, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.
Egyptian and U.S. mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days, but chances for a cease-fire deal remain entangled with the key question of whether Israel will accept an end to the war without reaching its stated goal of destroying Hamas.
Egypt’s state-owned AlQahera News TV channel said Saturday that a consensus had been reached over many disputed points but did not elaborate. Hamas has called for a complete end to the war and withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, said Israel was committed to the Rafah invasion and that it will not agree under any circumstances to end the war as part of a deal to release hostages.
The proposal that Egyptian mediators had put to Hamas sets out a three-stage process that would bring an immediate six-week cease-fire and partial release of Israeli hostages. It also would include some sort of Israeli pullout. The initial stage would last for 40 days. Hamas would start by releasing female civilian hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Gershon Baskin, director for the Middle East at the International Communities Organization, said it appears that Hamas has agreed to the framework that Egypt proposed and Israel has already accepted. He said if Israel sends its top negotiators to Cairo after the Sabbath, that would signify it’s very serious.
The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s local health officials, caused widespread destruction and plunged the territory into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The conflict erupted Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, abducting about 250 people and killing around 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Israeli strikes early Saturday on Gaza killed at least six people. Three bodies were recovered from the rubble of a building in Rafah and taken to Yousef Al Najjar hospital. A strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed three people, according to hospital officials.
The Israeli military says it has killed 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to back up the claim. It has also conducted mass arrests during its raids in Gaza.
Gaza’s Health Ministry urged the International Criminal Court to investigate the death in Israeli custody of a Gaza surgeon. Adnan al-Borsh, 50, was working at al-Awda Hospital when Israeli troops stormed it in December, detaining him and others inside, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said it and Israeli security agency Shin Bet had killed five “terrorists” in Tulkarem. Palestinian authorities said five people were killed by Israeli fire in the town of Deir al-Ghusun, a few miles northeast of Tulkarem.
In related developments last week, Israel briefed Biden administration officials on plans to evacuate civilians ahead of the Rafah operation, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
Israel recently opened new crossings for aid into northern Gaza, but on Wednesday, Israeli settlers blocked the first convoy before it crossed into the besieged enclave. Once inside Gaza, the convoy was commandeered by Hamas militants before U.N. officials reclaimed it.