Talks aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will restart in Cairo on Sunday, according to Egyptian source Al-Qahera, just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized new negotiations.
“An Egyptian security source confirmed to Al-Qahera News the resumption of negotiations on a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Egyptian capital Cairo tomorrow,” claimed an anchor for the channel, which is connected to the country’s intelligence services, on Saturday.
Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, a key Israeli ally, have mediated prior rounds of negotiations, but a comprehensive arrangement has proved elusive.
The negotiators had intended to secure a cease-fire before Ramadan began, but progress has stagnated, and the Muslim holy month is more than halfway through.
On Friday, Netanyahu approved a new round of cease-fire talks in Doha and Cairo.
His office stated that the Israeli prime minister had spoken with Mossad chief David Barnea about the talks, but did not specify whether Barnea would travel to either city.
Reports of new discussions in Cairo came as protestors in Israel’s largest city stopped a major road on Saturday, calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza and criticizing the government’s handling of the conflict.
Militants took approximately 250 captives during the October 7 strikes on Israel, which began the conflict. Israel estimates 130 are still in Gaza, including 33 who are feared dead.
An agreement to release hostages in return for Palestinian inmates detained in Israel has been a significant component of the cease-fire discussions.
France’s top diplomat was also in Cairo on Saturday, meeting with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, all of whom called for a “immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of all hostages.
French foreign minister Stephane Sejourne also stated that his government would present a draft resolution to the UN Security Council outlining a “political” conclusion of the war, which would include “all the criteria for a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
On Monday, the Security Council passed a resolution calling for a “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, and on Thursday, a UN court ordered Israel to “ensure urgent humanitarian assistance” to residents there, but neither development appears to have affected the situation on ground.
According to an AFP calculation of Israeli official data, Hamas’ assaults on October 7 killed approximately 1,160 people in Israel, the majority of whom were civilians.
According to the health ministry of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israel’s retaliatory assault against Hamas has killed at least 32,705 individuals, the majority of whom are women and children.