According to Israeli media reports, Israel has put on hold sending a delegation to Cairo after Hamas rejected one of its demands.
Hamas officials arrive in Cairo, Egypt, for talks on securing a truce in the Gaza conflict after US officials indicated Israel supported a framework for a temporary ceasefire and exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. .
Hamas representatives arrived in Cairo on Sunday, but by the evening no Israeli delegation had arrived for talks brokered by envoys from Qatar, Egypt and the United States, and Israeli media reported that Palestinian groups were attending. The report said that Israel has not sent a team because of the refusal. Share a list of prisoners of war who were still alive in the besieged territory.
Israeli news agency Y-net quoted an anonymous Israeli official as saying, “There is no Israeli delegation in Cairo.'' “Hamas refuses to give a clear answer, so he has no reason to send an Israeli delegation.”
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment.
A senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera that a Hamas delegation “is in Cairo to meet with our Egyptian and Qatari brothers and present the movement's vision.” “It doesn't matter to us whether the occupation delegation arrives in Cairo or not,” he said.
A source briefed on the talks told Reuters a day earlier that Israel may not move closer to Cairo unless Hamas first presents a list of prisoners.
Palestinian officials told the agency that Hamas has so far rejected the request.
U.S. officials earlier said Israel had agreed to the framework for a ceasefire agreement to be negotiated in Cairo.
“There is a framework agreement. The Israelis have more or less accepted it,” a senior US official in President Joe Biden's administration said on Saturday.
U.S. officials said the proposed framework includes a six-week ceasefire and the release of Hamas's sick, wounded, elderly, women and other vulnerable prisoners.
Israel and Hamas have made several demands amid mounting pressure from the United States to conclude a cease-fire deal before the start of Ramadan, expected around March 10 or 11.
The framework cited by the U.S. official could bring about the first long-term truce in the war, which has raged since October 7, with just a weeklong truce in November. But that would fall short of meeting Hamas's main demand for a permanent end to the war.
Al Jazeera's Tarek Abu Azizm, reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza, said Hamas continues to demand that Israel agree to “a complete military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a complete return of its population to the north.” Stated.
A potential ceasefire agreement would also see the release of prisoners held by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees. The deal could also ramp up aid deliveries as aid agencies warn that many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are at risk of starvation.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking 253 hostages, Israeli officials said. Israel responded with devastating shelling and a ground invasion of Gaza, killing more than 30,400 people, Palestinian officials said. Israeli military attacks destroyed much of the besieged territory and displaced more than 80 percent of the population.