Negotiating for 2nd cease-fire
Talks over release of Israeli hostages; Hamas leader to Cairo
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The top leader of Hamas traveled to Cairo on Wednesday for talks on the war in Gaza, part of a flurry of diplomacy aimed at securing another cease-fire and swap of hostages for Palestinian prisoners at a moment when Israel’s offensive shows no signs of slowing.
The visit to Cairo by Ismail Haniyeh came a day after Hamas fired rockets that set off air raid sirens in central Israel.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Israel has called on the rest of the world to blacklist Hamas as a terrorist organization, saying it must be removed from power in Gaza in the wake of its Oct. 7 rampage across southern Israel that triggered the war.
But the sides have recently relaunched indirect talks, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the U.S. The goal is to achieve another cease-fire, and to free more hostages Hamas took in its attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
“These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope that they lead somewhere,” the White House’s national security spokesman, John Kirby, said Wednesday aboard Air Force One while traveling with President Joe Biden to Wisconsin.
Biden, however, indicated a deal was still a ways off. “There’s no expectation at this point, but we are pushing,” he said.
Asked about the fast-rising death toll in Gaza, Biden said: “It’s tragic.”
Mobile phone and internet service was down across Gaza again on Wednesday, an outage that could complicate efforts to communicate with Hamas leaders inside the territory who went into hiding after Oct. 7.
The war has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel’s foreign minister traveled to Cyprus to discuss the possibility of establishing a maritime corridor that would allow the delivery of large amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Wide gap remains
Despite a burst of diplomacy by high-level officials in recent days, the two sides appeared to be far from an agreement.
Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war ends, and is expected to insist on the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-level terrorists, for the captives that remain.
Israel has rejected the demands so far. But it has a history of lopsided exchanges for captive Israelis, and the government is under heavy public pressure to bring the hostages home safely.
Egypt, along with Qatar, helped mediate a weeklong cease-fire in November in which Hamas freed over 100 hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of 240 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas and other terrorists are still holding an estimated 129 captives.
Hamas said that Haniyeh — who is believed to be based in Qatar but whose movements are rarely publicized — would discuss the war with Egyptian officials, without providing more details.
Ziad Nakhaleh, the leader of the smaller Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, which took part in the Oct. 7 attack and is also holding hostages, said he would also be going to Egypt in the coming days to participate in the talks.
Egypt, which borders Gaza, is deeply concerned about a potential influx of Palestinian refugees, fearing Israel will not allow them to return.
‘Final clearing’ underway
In northern Gaza, Israel bombarded the urban Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City early Wednesday. In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes targeted terrorists in the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
The Israeli military said it had made a number of significant advances on Wednesday, pushing into what it said was the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza City, the neighborhood of Tufah.
With the Palestinian death toll steadily rising, Israel has come under growing pressure to halt or scale back its offensive. But Israeli leaders vow to press ahead until Hamas’ military and governing capabilities are destroyed and until all hostages are freed.
“We will continue the war until the end. It will continue until Hamas is destroyed, until victory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. “Whoever thinks we will stop is detached from reality,” saying every member of Hamas is “marked for death.”
His defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said Tuesday that in southern Gaza, where the military launched a ground incursion focused on Khan Younis in early December, operations will take “months.”
Hamas and other terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack.
Israel’s military says 134 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. Israel says it has killed some 7,000 terrorists. It blames civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields when it fights in residential areas.
The Health Ministry in Hamasrun Gaza said Tuesday the death toll since the start of the war had risen to more than 19,600. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.