A Hamas delegation was set to go to Cairo on Saturday for discussions on a Gaza truce, according to a source close to the organization as mediators hurried to reach an agreement.
Egyptian, Qatari, and US intermediaries have been moving between Israeli and Hamas negotiators, attempting to arrange a cease-fire before the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which begins on March 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar.
Both Washington and Doha had expressed confidence that a truce might be implemented as early as next week, but US President Joe Biden indicated Thursday that an agreement will take longer after more than 100 Palestinian civilians were murdered while rushing an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas delegation will “meet with Egyptians overseeing the ceasefire negotiations, to follow up on the negotiation developments that aim to stop the offensive and the war, and to reach a hostage exchange deal,” said the source close to Hamas, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
The source said the delegation would submit Hamas’s “official answer” to a proposal thrashed out with Israeli negotiators in Paris late last month.
On Thursday, the White House said the hostage release “would result in an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks”.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s military offensive against Hamas has killed at least 30,320 Palestinians, the majority of them are women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
The only prior truce in the war lasted one week, in late November.
In addition to halting Israel’s onslaught, Hamas wants fresh truce terms to secure urgent humanitarian relief for Gazans, an Israeli withdrawal, and the repatriation of Gazans displaced from the north, according to a source close to the organization.
