CAIRO: Mediators geared up for a crucial weekend of truce talks on Saturday, as Hamas said it was sending delegates to Cairo, but that they would not participate, and Israel continued to bombard Gaza amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Hamas has announced it will send delegates to Cairo, however, these delegates will not participate directly in the talks but will meet with senior Egyptian officials for updates.
The health ministry in Gaza reported on Saturday that the ongoing Israeli bombardments since October 7 have resulted in the deaths of at least 40,334 Palestinians. The United Nations Human Rights Office has noted that the majority of the casualties are women and children. In the past 48 hours alone, 69 Palestinians have been killed, with 93,356 people wounded since the onset of the conflict.
The relentless Israeli bombardments have devastated Gaza, displacing nearly the entire population at least once and exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation. The US, Egypt, and Qatar have been engaged in efforts to broker a truce and end over 10 months of conflict between Hamas and Israel.
The latest round of negotiations, which have seen varying degrees of optimism, has encountered a major obstacle: the potential permanent deployment of Israeli troops along the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor. This issue has become a significant sticking point in the ceasefire talks.
A senior Hamas official said that while a delegation from the Palestinian group is heading to Cairo, they will not be directly participating in the negotiations. Instead, the delegation will be briefed by Egyptian officials on the progress of the talks.
The Hamas official reiterated that the Palestinian group has consistently maintained its position of non-participation in this round of negotiations, insisting on the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, including the border area with Egypt.
The framework for the talks is based on a proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden on May 31, which is seen as an Israeli proposal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been adamant about retaining troops along the border with Egypt.
CIA chief William Burns is among the US officials involved in the Cairo talks, alongside the heads of Israel’s spy agency and security service. An Egyptian source close to the negotiations said that Sunday’s discussions will be crucial in formulating a potential agreement, contingent on Washington’s ability to exert pressure on Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, Israel continued relentless bombardments in Gaza. An overnight Israeli airstrike on a house west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza resulted in the deaths of 11 people, including a woman and four children.
The Israeli forces also killed 35 people on Friday, according to the civil defence agency. The United Nations reported that tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing from Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis following Israeli evacuation orders, which precede anticipated military operations.
Efforts to secure a truce have intensified following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut last month, which has led to threats of reprisals from Tehran and its Lebanese group Hezbollah.
These threats have heightened concerns within Israel, prompting some citizens to build bomb shelters after years of postponement.
In Gaza, the desperate call for an end to the conflict continues. Umm Muhammad Wadi, a displaced woman from Deir el-Balah, voiced the collective frustration and hope of many Gazans: “We are tired and hope that the negotiations persist, the siege is lifted, and the war stops.”
