ENTRE News – Hamas representatives have arrived in Cairo, Egypt to attend a meeting to discuss a ceasefire with Israel. However, so far the Israeli delegation has not arrived. A top Israeli official said on Saturday (4/5) he would send a delegation to Cairo only if he saw ‘positive movement’ on the framework of the hostage release agreement.
“What we are looking for is an agreement on a framework for a possible hostage deal,” the official, who did not want to be identified, told AFP.
“Difficult and long negotiations were expected to produce a real agreement. An indication of positive movement on this framework was when we sent a delegation led by the Mossad leadership to Cairo,” he continued.
The Israeli official’s comments came after senior Hamas officials said their delegation had arrived in Cairo. Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been waiting for Hamas to respond to the proposal, which according to British details, would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
If an agreement is reached, the war between Israel and Hamas which has been going on for almost seven months in the Gaza Strip will stop temporarily. Previously, the two parties had held a ceasefire in November 2023 for a week. A total of 105 Hamas hostages were released, including 80 Israelis in exchange for 240 detained Palestinians.
Negotiations on this latest ceasefire have been stalled for months because Hamas demanded that Israel fully withdraw all its troops from the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said he would carry out a ground attack on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The massive invasion of Rafah FOR4D, where some 1.2 million civilians have taken refuge, has sparked global concern. This war was triggered by a Hamas attack on October 7 2023 on Israel which killed more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians.
Hamas militants also took around 250 people hostage and Israel estimates that 128 of them are still in Gaza and 35 others have been killed. Israel, which responded to the Hamas attack, destroyed Gaza and killed at least 36,654 people.