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:
- The Israel Defense Forces announced it dismissed two senior officers and reprimanded three others after discovering a slew of errors that led to the drone strike that killled the World Central Kitchen aid workers. The Israeli military said an army commander “mistakenly assumed” Hamas terrorists had taken over the trucks and were located inside the vehicles. The charity responded that acknowledging its responsibility and taking the disciplinary action were “important steps forward,” but also called for “systemic change,” to avoid future “military failures.”
- Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and dozens of congressional Democrats sent a letter to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday demanding the United States halt transferring weapons to Israel.
- Another senior Hamas operative, Akram Abd Al-Rahman Husein Salamah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, , the IDF and Shin Bet announced. The strike took place Wednesday in the southern Gaza Strip.
With Post wires.
