Israeli negotiating team to travel to Cairo on Sunday to continue Gaza cease-fire talks

JERUSALEM

An Israeli negotiating team is scheduled to travel Sunday to Cairo to continue talks on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and prisoner swap with Palestinians, Israeli media reported Friday.

Israeli Channel 12 said the team left Doha on Friday after two days of talks with Qatari, American and Egyptian representatives.

It added that technical members from the team stayed in Doha, but did not specify the number that remained or the reason for the stay.

Channel 12 noted that the team will fly to Cairo on Sunday to continue talks.

Following talks in Doha, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office reiterated his conditions that the Hamas rejects including keeping Israeli control over the Philadelphi Corridor area between Gaza and Egypt, and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

A senior Hamas official commented on the latest cease-fire talks in Doha that the outcome “does not include commitment to what was previously agreed upon on July 2,” based on US President Joe Biden’s proposal.

Earlier, US, Egypt and Qatar announced in a statement that they presented Israel and Hamas with what they called a “bridging proposal” to further narrow “remaining gaps in the manner that allows for a swift implementation of the (a cease-fire in Gaza) deal.”

The statement described the discussions as “serious and constructive,” adding that they “were conducted in a positive atmosphere.”

The mediators did not provide details of new proposal but said they are “consistent with the principles laid out by President Biden on May 31, 2024 and (UN) Security Council Resolution No. 2735.” Security Council Resolution 2735 welcomed the Biden cease-fire proposal.

The statement said technical teams from Egypt, Qatar and the US will “work over the coming days on the details of implementation, including arrangements to implement the agreement’s extensive humanitarian provisions, as well as specifics relating to hostages and detainees.”

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last October by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

Since then, an ongoing Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.

More tthan 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar

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