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Hamas delegation arrives for Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo

Israel indicated to have provisionally accepted six-week hostage and truce deal, but
Palestinian official says: ‘We’re not there yet’

The Guardian, Mar 3rd 2024

A Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo for talks on efforts to broker a ceasefire
in the war in Gaza after indications that Israel has provisionally accepted a six-week
phased hostage and truce deal before the beginning of the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan.
Qatari and US mediators also arrived in the Egyptian capital on Sunday, according
to the state-linked Al Qahera News.
Talks involving Israeli negotiators took place in the Qatari city of Doha on
Saturday and Hamas is expected to respond on Sunday or Monday as time runs out
before the unofficial deadline of 10 or 11 March, when Ramadan starts. The month of
fasting is often accompanied by an uptick in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
even in quieter years.
A Hamas official told Agence France-Presse that if Israel were to meet its
demands – which include a complete military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and
stepped-up humanitarian aid – this would “pave the way for an agreement within the
next 24-48 hours”.
Another unnamed Palestinian official told Reuters, however, that a ceasefire
deal was still not imminent, saying: “We’re not there yet.”
A US official said on Saturday that Israel had “more or less accepted” a deal
presented by mediators.
Stemming the bloodshed in Gaza has been a difficult diplomatic task in the nearly
five-month-old war sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel in which, according to Israeli
figures, about 1,200 people were killed and another 250 abducted.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 30,000 people, displaced more
than 85% of the 2.3 million-strong population from their homes and left more than half
of the strip’s infrastructure in ruins, according to data from Gaza’s health ministry and
the UN.
Increasing the flow of aid is crucial. The local health ministry said on Sunday that
15 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration at Kamal Adwan hospital in
Beit Lahiya, and the UN has said about a quarter of the total population is “one step
away from famine”.
Hamas has indicated its negotiating position could be influenced by the deaths
of 115 Palestinians in Gaza who were killed after Israeli troops opened fire near a
crowd of people scrambling to get food from an aid convoy on Thursday.
 Israel’s military said on Sunday that a preliminary review found its forces did not
strike the convoy and that most Palestinians died in a crowd crush, although it
acknowledged it fired at individuals who it said posed a threat to soldiers.
The military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari did not give details on the alleged
threat but said “an independent, professional and expert body” would do a more
thorough examination that would be shared “hopefully in the coming days”.
UN officials visiting al-Shifa hospital the day after the attack said they saw many
survivors with gunshot wounds, matching interviews with doctors treating the injured
and witness accounts of the incident.
The scale of the looming starvation has pushed the US to start airdropping food
into the besieged territory, a move criticised by aid agencies and human rights groups
as expensive and ineffective.
A November truce in which about 100 hostages were freed in exchange for 240
Palestinians in Israeli jails collapsed after a week, and progress on a second deal has
proved elusive.
With just a week left until Ramadan begins, desperate civilians in Gaza, the
relatives of the remaining hostages and international mediators are all aware that time
may be running out to broker a comprehensive ceasefire.
The latest negotiations have centred on a proposal to pause the fighting for six
weeks, increase the flow of aid, and for Hamas to free the default defined category of
vulnerable hostages: the sick, the wounded, elderly people and women.
The number and identity of Palestinian prisoners to be released has to date been
a particular sticking point in talks since the first ceasefire collapsed at the beginning of
December.