CAIRO: Talks on a truce in the Gaza conflict are making progress in the Egyptian capital here and all parties have agreed on basic points, Egypt's Al-Qahera News state-affiliated TV channel reported early today (April 8), citing a senior Egyptian source.
Six months into its offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Israel also voiced cautious optimism about the latest round of mediated negotiations.
Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt yesterday (April 7), following the arrival on Saturday of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns, whose participation followed United States pressure for a deal that would free hostages held in Gaza and ease the humanitarian crisis there.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the Cairo talks as the closest the sides have come to a deal since a November truce under which Hamas freed dozens of hostages.
"We have reached a critical point in the negotiations. If it works out, then a large number of hostages will come home," he told Israel's Army Radio.
Hamas seized 253 people during an Oct 7 attack in southern Israel that triggered the war. Of those, 129 hostages remained, and negotiators had spoken of around 40 going free in the first stage of a prospective deal with Hamas.
According to Al-Qahera, the Hamas and Qatar delegations left Cairo and will return within two days to agree on the terms of a final agreement, while the Israel and US delegations will leave within a few hours. It added that consultations will continue in the next 48 hours.
Hamas wanted to parlay any deal into an end to the war, full withdrawal of all Israeli forces and return of displaced Gazans. Israel had ruled out the first two demands, saying it would eventually topple Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said despite growing international pressure, Israel would not give in to "extreme" Hamas demands.
But Israeli officials had signalled willingness to allow some Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza to return there.
While saying he was more optimistic than before about a diplomatic breakthrough, Katz added: "Israel is poised to continue the war."
Thousands of Israeli protesters rallied yesterday demanding the government do more to recover the hostages.
Western countries had voiced outrage over what they saw as an unacceptably high Palestinian civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza that had resulted from Israel's campaign to destroy Hamas.
Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct 7, according to Israeli tallies. More than 33,100 Palestinians had been killed in the Israeli response, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
Hamas said it had lost 6,000 fighters, while Israel said the number was twice as high. More than 600 Israeli soldiers had been killed in Gaza combat, the army said. — Reuters