Gaza cease-fire talks resume in Cairo: Egyptian media

CAIRO

Talks resumed in Egypt on Thursday to reach a cease-fire and hostage swap agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to Egyptian media.

The state-run Al-Qahera News channel, citing a high-level Egyptian source, said Cairo is intensifying efforts to reach a draft accepted by the two sides.

“Egypt warned all parties of escalation if the negotiations failed to reach a truce agreement," the source said.

Hamas said on Monday evening that it had accepted a Gaza cease-fire proposal drawn by Egypt and Qatar.

But Israel said the truce offer accepted by Hamas did not meet its key demands and decided to push ahead with an operation in Rafah in order to apply what it said "military pressure on Hamas with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas which killed about 1,200 people. More than 34,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,500 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar