WASHINGTON DC: After a massive exchange of fire between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah over the weekend, the White House said that the negotiators continue to work to strike a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages, CNN reported.
The talks had made progress over the weekend, according to a senior US official familiar with the talks in Cairo, where mediators discussed “final details” of a potential agreement including the names of prisoners that would be exchanged as part of the pact.
While such progress does not guarantee a final agreement anytime soon, negotiators in the Egyptian capital are now discussing the “nuts and bolts” of a deal, the official said.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Monday that all sides, including Hamas, are represented in the talks and that the discussions have been able to move on with more specificity as they work to hammer out a deal.
However, Bassem Naim, a Hamas political bureau member, said Hamas was not participating in negotiations on Monday.
Speaking to Al Arabi TV, he reiterated Hamas’s position that it is “ready to negotiate what was agreed upon” in a July 2 proposal but will “not accept the conditions that [Israel Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu added.”
Hamas launched a massive terror attack on Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1200 people and holding over 250 hostages, out of which over 100 are still in captivity.
In response, Israel launched a strong counteroffensive targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli operation, however, has been criticised for civilian casualties. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli operation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Netanyahu has insisted that the war in Gaza will continue until a “total victory” against Hamas has been won, even if a deal is reached. That objective has been questioned by many top Israeli officials, including his own defence minister, and family members of captives held by Hamas.
Negotiators have worked for months to bridge demands by Netanyahu and Hamas. The remaining sticking points, while significant, are seen as potentially surmountable, CNN reported citing the official.
One issue is the Israeli military’s presence on Gaza’s side of the border with Egypt, an area known as the Philadelphi corridor. Hamas opposes Israel’s desire to continue to station troops there in the early phase of a ceasefire deal.
The US official said the current proposal calls for an Israeli military withdrawal from “densely populated areas” in Gaza, and that the current debate is focused on what parts of the Philadelphi corridor qualify as densely populated versus unpopulated, where the IDF will maintain a presence in the first phase of an agreement.
However, the Hamas negotiating delegation left Cairo on Sunday publicly reiterating the group’s demand that any agreement must include “a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the freedom of return of residents to their areas, relief and reconstruction, and a serious exchange deal.”
The US official said despite public comments by Hamas, “negotiators believe Hamas may be more flexible on an Israeli presence during the first phase of an agreement.” (ANI)