Key Points
- Ceasefire talks in Cairo have entered their third day, despite the absence of an Israeli delegation.
- Both Israel and Hamas claim they are awaiting response from the other.
- Egyptian security sources have said the warring sides were sticking to demands that had held up an agreement.
Hamas negotiators have stayed in Cairo for an additional third day of ceasefire talks in an attempt to halt the fighting in the Gaza Strip in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, free Israeli hostages and stave off famine.
A 40-day ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel would allow some hostages captured by Palestinian militants in the October attack that precipitated the war to go free, while aid to Gaza would be increased and families able to return to abandoned homes. Ramadan begins at the start of next week.
“The delegation will remain in Cairo on Tuesday for more talks, they are expected to wrap up this round later today,” a Hamas official told the Reuters news agency.
Three security sources from host and mediator Egypt said the warring sides were sticking to demands that had held up an agreement. The Egyptians have remained in contact with the Israelis despite the absence of an Israeli delegation.
Earlier, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the group had presented a draft ceasefire agreement and was now waiting for a response from Israel.
“[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press him, Naim said.
Israel has declined to comment publicly on the talks but a senior Israeli official said: “Israel is making every effort to reach an agreement. We are awaiting a response from Hamas.”
Earlier reports suggested that Israel was staying away because Hamas had refused to furnish a list of all hostages who are still alive.
Naim said this was impossible without a ceasefire as hostages were scattered across the war zone and held by separate groups.
Children look for salvageable items amid the rubble of a mosque destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Source: Getty / AFP
Washington, both Israel’s closest ally and a sponsor of the ceasefire talks, has said an Israeli-approved deal is already on the table and it is up to Hamas to accept it. Hamas disputes this account as an attempt to deflect blame from Israel if the talks collapse.
The United States has also urged Israel to do more to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ 7 October attack in which more than 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government.
More than 30,410 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
The 7 October attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“Israel has to maximize every possible means … of getting assistance to people who need it,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said.
“That requires more aid getting in. And once that aid is in, it requires making sure it can get to the people who need it. So we will continue to press that every single day, because the situation as it stands is simply unacceptable.”
Famine is now looming over the Gaza Strip as aid supplies, already sharply curtailed since the start of the war, have dwindled to barely a trickle over the past month.
Gaza’s few functioning hospitals, already overwhelmed by the wounded, are now filling with children starving to death.
The US military, in coordination with Jordan, airdropped 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday, a programme Washington began last week. Aid agencies say this is paltry compared to the scale of the hunger.
