A Hamas delegation will meet Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Saturday for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, a senior official from the Palestinian terror group told AFP.
“The Hamas negotiating delegation, headed by Khalil al-Hayya, has left for Cairo,” senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said Friday.
“It will meet with Egyptian officials tomorrow to discuss Hamas’s vision for ending the war,” he added, reaffirming that that Hamas’s weapons “are not up for negotiation.”
The renewed bid follows Hamas’s rejection this month of Israel’s latest proposal to secure the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
The terrorists said they would not accept a “partial” ceasefire deal and called for a “comprehensive” agreement to halt the war set off by their October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel.
Talks since Israel resumed its air and ground assault against Hamas on March 18, after an earlier two-month ceasefire broke down, have not produced a breakthrough.
A Hamas official said on Tuesday that a delegation would meet Egyptian officials to discuss “new ideas” on a ceasefire.
Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya is seen outside the VIP hall at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on March 15, 2021. (Said Khatib/AFP)
Qatar, the United States and Egypt brokered one truce which began on January 19 and enabled a surge in aid, alongside the releases of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
But it collapsed amid disagreements over the terms of the next stage.
Hamas had insisted that negotiations be held leading to a permanent end to the war, as outlined in the January framework announced by former US president Joe Biden that the Trump administration pushed Israel to accept.
Israel, however, sought to extend the terms of the first phase, with the government rejecting any agreement for the release of hostages that includes ending the war while Hamas remains a force in Gaza.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 captives, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
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