Cairo round of talks on Gaza truce concludes without a deal

Ahram Online , Thursday 9 May 2024

Hamas and Israeli delegations departed Cairo on Thursday after two days of talks on the Gaza truce without reaching a deal, a high-level Egyptian source told Al-Qahera News TV channel.


Palestinians flee the area after Israeli bombardment in central Gaza City. AFP

 

The source further confirmed that the Egyptian security delegation intensified its efforts to reach a consensus over contentious issues.

According to a statement by a Hamas official, Ezzat al-Rishq, the delegation sent to the talks in Cairo has departed and returned to the Qatari capital Doha.

Al-Rishq, however, said the group is still committed to "accepting the proposal presented by the mediators."

Meanwhile, a US source familiar with the talks told Al Jazeera TV channel that CIA Director William Burns departed Cairo for the US following the end of the negotiations.

This latest round of Cairo talks resumed on Tuesday, bringing together all five delegations amidst ongoing tensions sparked by the recent Israeli military ground invasion of the Palestinian city of Rafah. 

Egypt, along with international mediators, continues its efforts to bridge the gap between the two sides in light of the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, the source said. 

On Tuesday, Israel deployed tanks into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and took control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt.

Egypt, which shares a border with Rafah and maintains a peace treaty with Israel, and Qatar, which hosts Hamas political leaders, have been at the forefront of ceasefire negotiations.

Israel, whose brutal war on Gaza has continued for more than seven months, is facing mounting international pressure to agree to a Gaza ceasefire

Since the war began on 7 October, Israeli occupation forces killed 34,904 people, injured 78,514, caused extensive damage to Gaza's infrastructure, and displaced most of the strip’s residents.

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