Hamas arrives in Cairo for talks on Gaza ceasefire and hostage swap - Reuters
Kyiv • UNN
A Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo for talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of prisoners.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday for important talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange. The parties are expected to announce a six-week cessation of hostilities. Reuters writes , UNN reports.
Details
Earlier, Washington saidthat the ceasefire agreement is ready and has been approved by Israel. It is only waiting for confirmation from the militants.
However, Palestinian information officials told Reuters that after the arrival of the Hamas delegation, "there is no agreement yet." Moreover, according to them, there has been no official confirmation from the Israeli side even that its delegation had participated in the talks.
One source briefed on the talks told reporters that Israel could stay away from Cairo until Hamas provides a full list of hostages who are still alive. This demand, according to the Palestinian source, was rejected by Hamas as premature.
Optional
According to the US announcement, this agreement will bring the first extended truce in the war that has been raging for five months. It is noted that there was only one week-long pause in November.
The format of the hostage exchange has been preliminarily discussed as 10:100. Accordingly, dozens of hostages held by the militants will be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians.
The United States also promises to increase aid to besieged Gaza to save the lives of Palestinians on the brink of starvation. The fighting is to stop in order to prevent a large-scale planned Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are locked inside the enclave's border fence. Israeli troops will pull back from some areas and allow Gazans to return to homes they left behind during the war.
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Journalists note that this agreement leaves unresolved the fate of more than half of the Israeli hostages, namely Israeli men of fighting age, who are not covered by this agreement. Hamas terrorists promise to release only captured women, children, the elderly and the wounded.
Also, the document proposed by the United States will not satisfy Hamas's main demand to end the war forever.
Egyptian mediators suggested that these issues could be postponed for now. They hope that the demands of both sides will be resolved in the next stages.
