TEL AVIV, Israel – A delegation from the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported “visible progress” in ongoing ceasefire talks with Israel, while an Israeli official downplayed prospects for a truce.
Pressure has been mounting to reach an agreement – Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is increasing dramatically as Israel insists it will launch an offensive against Rafah, the territory’s southernmost city.
There is a lot at stake to bring an end to the war that has lasted almost seven months. More than a million Palestinians are sheltering in the city of Rafah along the border with Egypt, many of them having fled northern Gaza, where a senior UN official says there is now total famine.
Egyptian and American mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days, but the prospects for a ceasefire agreement remain entangled with the fundamental question of whether Israel will accept an end to the war without achieving its stated aim of destroying Hamas.
Egyptian state news outlet Al-Qahera said on Saturday that a consensus had been reached on many of the controversial points, but did not give further details. Hamas called for a complete end to the war and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.
The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities in Gaza, caused widespread destruction and plunged the territory into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The conflict erupted on October 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, kidnapping around 250 people and killing around 1,200, most of them civilians. Israel says militants still hold about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 other people.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, played down prospects for an end to the war. The official told the Associated Press that Israel will not under any circumstances agree to end the war as part of a deal to release hostages.
Israeli strikes on Saturday morning in 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. An attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza also killed three people, according to hospital officials.
In the last 24 hours, the bodies of 32 people killed in Israeli strikes were taken to local hospitals, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday.
In related developments this week, Israel briefed Biden administration officials on plans to evacuate civilians ahead of Operation Rafah, according to U.S. officials familiar with the negotiations.
The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel advances into the densely populated city, which is also a critical entry point for humanitarian aid.
The US director of the UN World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, said on Friday that civilians trapped in the north, the most isolated part of Gaza, had been plunged into starvation. McCain said a ceasefire and a much greater flow of aid through land and sea routes were essential.
Israel recently opened new aid crossings 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 UN officials claimed it.
The proposal that Egyptian mediators presented to Hamas sets out a three-phase process that would bring an immediate six-week ceasefire and partial release of Israeli hostages, and would include some type of Israeli withdrawal. The initial phase would last 40 days.
Hamas would begin by releasing female civilian hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Gershon Baskin, Middle East director for the Organization of International Communities, said it appears that Hamas has agreed to the structure proposed by Egypt and that Israel has already accepted it.
He said negotiators are now working out the details – and if Israel sends its top negotiators to Cairo after the end of Saturday night, it would mean the situation is very serious.
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Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
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