Several more days of talks in Cairo will be needed to reach agreements between the Palestinian movement Hamas and the Israeli side on settlements in the Gaza Strip. This was reported by the TV channel Sada al-Balad.
According to his sources, US and Israeli officials involved in the Cairo meetings said that “any potential agreement between the parties to the conflict on a temporary ceasefire combined with the release of hostages held in Gaza would be followed by continued negotiations." To reach final agreements, they said, “several more days of dialogue will be needed.
As the channel notes, “negotiators in Cairo have made progress on the technical aspects of a potential agreement”, but according to individual participants, “even if Hamas accepts the proposal presented to it earlier, it will take time to agree on specifics details, which should eventually lead to a truce." According to the participants in the negotiation process, “discussions can be long and difficult”.
There is conflicting information regarding Hamas's alleged agreement not to consider a ceasefire in the sector in the first stage of a general settlement agreement. As a representative of the Israeli side stated, “the condition of ending hostilities in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of hostages is not discussed at all”. Earlier, the Israeli government noted that the process of releasing people forcibly held by radicals in Gaza was in no way related to the military operation conducted by the Israeli army in the Palestinian enclave.
Some time ago the TV channel "Al-Kahira al-Ikhbariya" announced that the parties to the conflict have reached agreement on many contentious issues at consultations in Cairo. According to him, with the support of the Egyptian delegation, which is one of the mediators in the negotiations between Hamas and Israel, “the parties reached a consensus on many controversial issues” related to the ceasefire agreement in the enclave.
As the source of the TV channel Al Arabiya indicated, the agreement between Hamas and the Israeli side is “inevitable, unless new obstacles arise".
The Hamas delegation arrived earlier in the Egyptian capital, as noted in a statement by the movement, with the intention of completing negotiations with the Israeli side to end hostilities in the Gaza Strip and reach an agreement. The movement said the Palestinian resistance is “determined to bring this about [to an agreement] in a way that meets the demands of the Palestinian people for a complete end to [Israeli] aggression, the return of displaced persons to their permanent homes, the provision of humanitarian aid , the reconstruction of the destroyed enclave and the end of a serious exchange deal" hostages in the hands of radicals in Gaza, of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli prisons.