Israel has downplayed reported progress made in Gaza cease-fire talks with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas with meditations set to resume in Cairo on Sunday.
A Hamas delegation reached the Egyptian capital Saturday as Egyptian state media reported "noticeable progress" in cease-fire talks with Israel but an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war in Gaza.
Pressure has mounted to reach a deal halting the nearly 7-month war. A top U.N. official says there is now a full-blown famine in northern Gaza, while Israel insists it will launch an offensive into Rafah, the territory's southernmost city on the border with Egypt, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.
Egyptian and U.S. mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days but chances for a cease-fire deal remain entangled with the key question of whether Israel will accept an end to the war without reaching its stated goal of destroying Hamas.
Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News TV channel said Saturday that a consensus had been reached over many disputed points but did not elaborate. Hamas has called for a complete end to the war and a withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, played down the prospects for a full end to the war. The official said Israel was committed to the Rafah invasion and that it would not agree in any circumstance to end the war as part of a deal to release hostages.
The proposal that Egyptian mediators had put to Hamas sets out a three-stage process that would bring an immediate, six-week cease-fire and partial release of Israeli hostages, and would include some sort of Israeli pullout.
The initial stage would last for 40 days. Hamas would start by releasing female civilian hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Gershon Baskin, director for the Middle East at the International Communities Organization, said it appears that Hamas has agreed to the framework that Egypt proposed and Israel has already accepted. He said if Israel sent its top negotiators to Cairo at the end of the Sabbath on Saturday evening, that would signify it’s very serious.
However, Israel has yet to send a delegation to Cairo. An Israeli official said Saturday it would do so only if there were "positive movement" on the proposed framework.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official separately insisted late Saturday that the group would "not agree under any circumstances" to a truce that did not explicitly include a complete end to the war, including Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, condemned Israeli efforts to secure a hostage-release deal "without linking it to ending the aggression on Gaza."
He accused Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "personally hindering" truce efforts due to "personal interests."
Israel has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians in its genocidal war, according to Gaza’s local health officials, caused widespread destruction and plunged the territory into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The conflict was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion of southern Israel, abducting about 250 people and killing around 1,200.
In related developments this week, Israel briefed Biden administration officials on plans to evacuate civilians ahead of the Rafah operation, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands would be "at imminent risk of death" if Israel moves forward into the densely packed city, which is also a critical entry point for humanitarian aid.
The director of the U.N. World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said Friday that trapped civilians in the north, the most cut-off part of Gaza, have plunged into famine. McCain said a cease-fire and a greatly increased flow of aid through land and sea routes was essential.
Israel recently opened new crossings for aid into northern Gaza, but on Wednesday, Israeli settlers blocked the first convoy before it crossed into the besieged enclave. Once inside Gaza, the convoy was commandeered by Hamas members, before U.N. officials reclaimed it.
