Gaza Ceasefire Talks In Cairo Include Hamas Delegation

(CTN News) – Hamas was in Cairo Sunday for talks on brokering a ceasefire in Gaza after Israel had accepted a six-week phased hostage and truce deal before Ramadan.

According to Al Qahera News, Qatari and US mediators also arrived in Cairo on Sunday.

As time runs out before Ramadan begins on 10 or 11 March, Hamas is expected to respond by Sunday or Monday. Even in quiet years, Israel-Palestine violence spikes during fasting.

If Israel meets Hamas’ demands, which include a military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and stepped-up humanitarian aid, this will “pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours”. Reuters quotes an unnamed Palestinian official as saying: “We’re not there yet.”

The US official said Israel had accepted the mediators’ deal “more or less.” Israel’s prime minister has not pulled troops out of Gaza. Israel has not announced whether it will attend Cairo talks.

There’s been a lot of bloodshed in Gaza in the nearly five-month war sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people have been killed and another 250 kidnapped.

As a result of Israel’s retaliatory offensive, more than 30,000 people have been killed and over 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes, according to the UN and Gaza’s health ministry.

It’s crucial to increase the flow of aid. On Sunday, 16 kids died at Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya from malnutrition and dehydration, and the UN says about a quarter of the population is at risk of starvation.

The deaths of 115 Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday after Israeli troops opened fire near a crowd scrambling to get food from an aid convoy could influence Hamas’ negotiating position.

On Sunday, Israel’s military said its forces didn’t strike the convoy, and that most Palestinians died during a crowd crush, although it acknowledged that it fired at individuals who posed a threat.

R Adm Daniel Hagari didn’t give details, but he said “an independent, professional and expert body” would do a more thorough investigation that would be released “hopefully soon”.

According to UN officials who visited al-Shifa hospital the day after the attack, many survivors had gunshot wounds, which matched witness accounts and interviews with doctors treating the injured.

Aid agencies and human rights groups have criticized the US for airdropping food into the besieged territory as expensive and ineffective.

There have already been airdrops in Jordan and other countries. Local media showed footage of Palestinian children running toward food parcels drifting on black parachutes from the strip’s Mediterranean coast on Sunday.

About 100 hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians in Israeli jails in November, but a second deal hasn’t progressed.

There’s just a week left until Ramadan, so civilians in Gaza, the relatives of the remaining hostages, and international mediators are all aware time is running out.

Despite the diplomatic talks, fighting continues across the strip. In the last 24 hours, Israeli airstrikes killed 90 people, including twin babies Baeem and Wissam Abu Anza, buried on Sunday as their mother, Rania, wept.

“Only civilians” were in the house when it was bombed, killing 14 members of one family. Suddenly a missile hit and destroyed the whole house,” he said as residents searched the rubble with their bare hands for bodies and food.

As far as residents are concerned, airstrikes hit Rafah, the strip’s southernmost town, where civilians are fleeing the fighting, and Khan Younis, where Israeli forces are battling Hamas and other Palestinian militants on the ground. Hamas also reported intense tank shelling in Gaza’s northern half.

There were about 50 targets hit, including “underground terrorist infrastructure”.

Some say Joe Biden has chosen not to use Washington’s leverage as Israel’s main arms supplier and most important ally to force Israel to ease up on its campaign or increase aid to Gaza.

SEE ALSO:

Singaporean Police Arrest Over 300 People Over Online Scams