Hamas and Israeli negotiators are expected to head to Egypt this weekend for another round of peace talks — even as the terror group refuses to budge from their demand for a “complete ceasefire” in Gaza.
A delegation led by Hamas’ deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, will travel to Cairo on Sunday in response to an invitation from Egyptian meditators, the group said Saturday.
CIA Director Bill Burns, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and an Israeli delegation are expected to attend the talks as well.
Hamas reiterated its demands from a March 14 proposal, including a “complete ceasefire,” the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians, and a “serious” exchange deal of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages kidnapped during the group’s brutal Oct. 7 attacks that sparked the ongoing war.
The intermittent talks between Israel and Hamas have seen no breakthroughs since November, when a week-long pause in fighting resulted in dozens of hostages’ release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
On Friday, President Joe Biden asked Egypt and Qatar’s mediator leaders to press Hamas to “agree to and abide by a deal,” a senior US administration official told Axios.
During a phone call, between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday, the leaders discussed the need to “empower” the Jewish state’s negotiators to reach a deal to bring the hostages home.
Biden, however, also called for an “immediate ceasefire” during his 30-minute conversation with Netanyahu, just days after the Israeli leader apologized for a drone strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.
Biden suggested during their talk that the United States’ support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza may dwindle if Jerusalem doesn’t curb civilian casualties in Gaza and take steps to improve humanitarian conditions there.
Saturday, humanitarian aid trucks entered northern Gaza through the reopened Erez border crossing for the first time since the war began on Oct. 7, The Jerusalem Post reported.
In other developments:
With Post wires.