Egypt yesterday hosted envoys for talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the latest diplomatic effort as Gaza officials reported more deadly bombardment in the nearly five-month-old war.
A senior Hamas official said that a delegation from the Palestinian group would discuss with mediators a proposal for a six-week truce, after a US official said Israel had broadly accepted its terms.
Envoys from the US, Qatar and Hamas have arrived in Cairo, Egyptian state-linked media reported, as all sides have been scrambling to lock in a truce before Ramadan, which begins on Sunday or Monday next week.
Photo: Reuters
The Hamas official said that if Israel were to meet its demands — which have included a military withdrawal from Gaza and stepped-up humanitarian aid — this would “pave the way for an agreement within the next 24 to 48 hours.”
At least 90 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours, including 14 family members whose house in the southern Rafah refugee camp had been hit, the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said.
In a sign of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the narrow coastal territory, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said at least 16 children had died of malnutrition in recent days as “famine spreads” in the north.
As Gaza faces dwindling deliveries of relief supplies across its land borders, Israel’s top ally the US carried out its first airdrop, joining several Arab and European government that have parachuted in aid since November, but officials and aid groups have said such operations are limited in scope and cannot replace overland aid access.
The UN Security Council voiced concern over “alarming levels of acute food insecurity,” highlighted by a rush for aid from a convoy of trucks in Gaza City on Thursday that ended in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians.
The Hamas official said the group would demand “the entry of at least 400 to 500 trucks per day” carrying food, medicine and fuel as part of a truce deal.
The US official, speaking to reporters late on Saturday, said “there’s a framework deal” for a ceasefire which could start “today if Hamas agrees to release” elderly, women and ill hostages.
Israel had yet to confirm whether it would attend the Cairo talks.
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