Gaza has been utterly devastated by 14 months of ferocious Israeli attacks [Getty]
An Israeli delegation reportedly arrived in Cairo on Saturday for talks on a Gaza ceasefire agreement, as three Palestinian groups said a deal was with Israel is “closer than ever,” provided Israel does not impose new conditions.
Last week, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the US were held in Doha, rekindling hope of an agreement amid conflicting reports this week about the talks’ progress.
The Israeli delegation is reportedly scheduled to hold a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials to discuss outstanding issues and review some clauses in the draft deal related to the management of the Rafah crossing, according to The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The ceasefire deal, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, stipulates a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Rafah border crossing during the first phase of the agreement which will last 60 days. It also includes Israeli forces relocating and partially withdrawing from the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
Israel captured the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt earlier this year and has widened its presence along the Philadelphi Corridor. It is one of the main issues holding up an agreement, as Tel Aviv says it wants to maintain a military presence there.
Hamas and two other groups sounded very optimistic about reaching a deal soon.
“The possibility of reaching an agreement (for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal) is closer than ever, provided the enemy stops imposing new conditions,” Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a rare joint statement issued after talks in Cairo on Friday.
A Hamas leader told AFP on Saturday that talks had made “significant and important progress” in recent days.
“Most points related to the ceasefire and prisoner exchange issues have been agreed upon,” he said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the issue.
“Some unresolved points remain, but they do not hinder the process. The agreement could be finalised before the end of this year, provided it is not disrupted by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s new conditions.”
He said that if an agreement is reached it will be implemented in phases, ending with “a serious prisoner exchange deal, a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal [of Israeli forces] from Gaza.”
Israel has said it will not allow Hamas to govern the Gaza Strip again, and Netanyahu – who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza – said Friday evening that he will not stop the war until Hamas is completely eradicated.
Israel says 101 out of 251 people taken hostage by Hamas last year remain in Gaza, some of them dead. Hamas wants to swap some of these captives for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, said to be in the thousands.
The war on Gaza has killed over 45,200 people in just over 14 months. Most of the victims have been women and children, according to the enclave’s health authorities. Much of the territory has been destroyed and practically all its nearly 2 million population displaced.
Many international rights groups have accused Israel of conducting genocide in Gaza.
(AFP contributed to this report)
