A Hamas executive announced to AFP on Saturday that a delegation from the terrorist movement was on its way to Cairo where negotiations for a truce in Gaza are being held, without participating in them. “The delegation will meet senior Egyptian intelligence officials to be informed of the latest developments in the ongoing negotiations (...) This does not mean that Hamas is participating in these negotiations ,” he told AFP , under cover of anonymity.
A week ago, American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators discussed with Israeli intelligence chiefs in Doha a plan to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with the release of hostages in exchange of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
This new round of negotiations has been continuing since Friday in Cairo in the presence of the director of the CIA, William Burns, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, the head of Mossad (Israeli foreign intelligence), David Barnea, and from the Shin Bet (Israeli internal security), Ronen Bar.
Even if it does not participate in the discussions, Hamas is regularly kept informed of progress by the Egyptian and Qatari mediators. He recently said he refused “more negotiations” and pleaded for “the application of the Biden plan” , a road map presented at the end of May by American President Joe Biden.
The main sticking point is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on maintaining troops in the 'Philadelphia Corridor' , on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The Hamas executive reiterated to AFP on Saturday that 'the complete withdrawal of (Israeli) occupation troops from the entire Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphia corridor' was a sine qua non condition for the signing of an agreement.
Egypt, the United States and Qatar have been mediating for months with a view to reaching a truce agreement in the war in Gaza triggered on October 7 by a Hamas terrorist attack in Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
A Hamas delegation will go to Cairo today for talks with the negotiators of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and on the release of the hostages. Al Jazeera reports.
Yesterday Egypt would have sent the modified parts of the bridge project of the agreement to the Islamist group that governs Gaza, the updates concern in particular the Rafah border crossing and the Philadelphia corridor, the buffer zone between the Strip and the Egyptian desert.
The international pressure on the two parties, Israel and Hamas, is at its highest level in recent weeks to close the agreement to release the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October and put an end to the fighting in Gaza.
Meanwhile, retaliatory attacks against Israel by Iran and Hezbollah have been suspended pending the outcome of the negotiations. According to Israeli intelligence sources, 105 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October are still in Gaza, including the bodies of 34 people whose deaths were confirmed by the IDF.
Negotiations have been at a standstill since November, when Hamas released 105 civilians during a week-long truce in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees. Four hostages were freed before November, while seven others were rescued by troops. The bodies of 30 hostages were also recovered, including three killed by mistake by the IDF while trying to escape their captors.
