Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo for latest Gaza truce talks

Political 4 May, 2024 18:51

A Hamas delegation led by Khalil Al Hayah has arrived in Cairo to resume talks on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, after months of negotiations failed to produce a breakthrough, sources with direct knowledge of the process have told The National, Mena reports.

Zahed Gabreen, a senior group official and a confidante of Yahya Sinwar, is also in the delegation.

Egyptian state-linked Al Qahera News Television quoted a high-ranking source as saying that "there is significant progress in the negotiations" between the Palestinian militant group and Israel, and that the Egyptian mediators have "reached an agreed-upon formula on most points of contention."

Hamas said late on Friday its delegates were travelling to Cairo in a “positive spirit” after studying the latest truce proposal from Israel.

“We are determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfils Palestinians' demands,” the group said in a statement.

A senior Hamas official confirmed to AFP that a delegation led by Khalil Al Hayya, deputy head of the group's political arm in Gaza, would arrive in Cairo on Saturday morning.

Hamas's announcement came after CIA Director William Burns arrived in Cairo on Friday for meetings with mediators, according to Egyptian sources and the US news website Axios.

Hamas and CIA officials will meet Egyptian mediators, although it was unclear whether they would meet separately or together.

Qatar's news channel Al Jazeera Arabic has reported that a Qatari delegation is travelling to Cairo on Saturday to take part in the negotiations.

Egypt, along with Qatar and the US, has been leading mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas to broker a truce in the war which began on October 7.

Hamas's demand for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's repeated threats to press ahead with his plans to attack Rafah, have largely stalled the talks.

Sources close to the negotiations in Cairo told The National that Egypt has asked the US and Israel for more time to persuade Hamas to show more flexibility on the latest proposals to pause the war.

The latest proposals envisage an initial limited truce with a staged hostage swap as in previous deals, but Israel has also reportedly agreed to a “second phase” of the truce that includes a “period of sustained calm” of up to a year.

Hamas would release a number of hostages it holds, including women and elderly, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.