Israel and Hamas cannot reach a ceasefire agreement in Cairo; the process will go on
Israel and Hamas: The Gaza ceasefire negotiations in Cairo on Sunday ended without an agreement between the teams of Israel and Hamas. Multiple proposals put up by mediators were met with resistance from both parties, Reuters was informed by sources.
A senior U.S. official, however, characterized the discussions as “constructive” and said that all parties were working toward “a final and implementable agreement.”
The unnamed source told Reuters, “The process will continue over the coming days through working groups to further address remaining issues and details.”
The summit in Cairo marked the end of many months of negotiations after the October 7, 2023, assault on Israel by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent devastating military response.
One of the main issues in the current negotiations, which are being mediated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar, is Israel’s presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a slender 14.5-kilometer area of land that runs along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Though none of the solutions offered by mediators were accepted by either side, Israeli soldiers are still stationed on the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor, which run through the center of the Gaza Strip.
According to the sources, Israel objected to the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners and insisted that they leave Gaza immediately upon their release.
Teams from Egypt, Qatar, and the US have been working together to close gaps; on Saturday, Egypt and Qatar guided Hamas through the plan. Israel entered the negotiations on Sunday and voiced its concerns about the existing plan.
According to Hamas, Israel has reneged on its promise to remove soldiers from the Philadelphi corridor and has imposed additional requirements, such as assessing displaced Palestinians upon their return to the densely populated north after the start of the truce.
Osama Hamdan, a representative for Hamas, said on Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday, “We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions.”
Sixteen days after the first part of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza conflict, in July, Hamas had accepted a request from the United States to start negotiations on the release of Israeli prisoners, including men and soldiers.
According to senior official Izzat El-Reshiq, who spoke to Reuters, the Hamas delegation departed Cairo on Sunday after restating its demand that any accord include a lasting truce and an Israeli departure from Gaza.
