Hamas said on Friday it was sending a delegation to Cairo to discuss a deal for a truce and the release of hostages in Gaza, hours after U.S. CIA Director William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital, according to Egyptian sources.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been leading efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas to broker a deal for a ceasefire in the conflict that began on Oct. 7 © Mena Today
Hamas said on Friday it was sending a delegation to Cairo to discuss a deal for a truce and the release of hostages in Gaza, hours after U.S. CIA Director William Burns arrived in the Egyptian capital, according to Egyptian sources.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been leading efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas to broker a deal for a ceasefire in the conflict that began on Oct. 7.
The Hamas and CIA officials will meet Egyptian mediators on Saturday, an Egyptian security source said, though it was unclear whether they would meet separately or together.
Hamas said its delegates were traveling to Cairo in a "positive spirit" after studying the latest proposal for a truce agreement.
"We are determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfils Palestinians' demands," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.
A U.S. official said the United States believed there had been some progress in talks but was still waiting to hear more.
The CIA declined to comment, reflecting its policy of not disclosing the director's travel.
Ceasefire talks have continued for months without a decisive breakthrough. Israel has said it is determined to eliminate Hamas, while Hamas says it wants a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Egypt made a renewed push to revive negotiations late last month. Cairo is alarmed by the prospect of an Israeli ground operation against Hamas in Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1 million people have taken shelter near the border with Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian sources say both sides have made some concessions recently, leading to progress in the talks, though Israel has continued to say an operation in Rafah is imminent.
By Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Nidal al-Mughrabi
On a road in Gaza City's Zeitoun district, Palestinian resident Assem Dawla loaded mattresses and bags onto a truck as concrete yellow blocks marking the edge of Israel's expanding military zone stood amid the rubble nearby.
Syria is seeking to reach a security agreement with Israel, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday.
An Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed a senior officer of the Hamas-run Palestinian internal security service in the Gaza Strip and an associate as they travelled in a vehicle through Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, medics and police officials said.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.