Egyptian envoys said to visit Israel to discuss ceasefire, as IDF pushes on in Gaza

An Egyptian delegation visited Tel Aviv last week in a bid to bring about an agreement “to end the war” between Israel and the Hamas terror group, according to a report Sunday, as the Israeli military showed no sign of slowing its operations across the Gaza Strip.

The report by Qatari-owned outlet Al-Arabi Al-Jadid came as Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been trying to put in place a framework for a new ceasefire, though the sides do not appear to be close to an agreement.

An Egyptian official told the outlet that “things are still complicated” in the ongoing talks.

The unnamed source said that Cairo was exploring Israel’s “readiness to completely withdraw from the areas that the army entered in the Gaza Strip following the ground operation, in the event of a comprehensive agreement being reached.”

A Palestinian source told the newspaper that “internal consultations between the Palestinian factions are still continuing in order to conclude a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire.”

Qatari mediators have reportedly told Israel that Hamas “agrees in principle” to resume negotiations for the release of further hostages taken by the terror group during its shock incursion on October 7, in exchange for a truce of up to a month in the Gaza Strip.

מטוסי חיל האוויר תקפו הלילה כחלק ממטסי הסיוע לכוחות המתמרנים עשרות מטרות בהן מבנים צבאיים, תשתיות טרור ומנהרה >> pic.twitter.com/ReAwBLxNEn

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) December 31, 2023

The war began when some 3,000 terrorists stormed the border from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people in southern Israel — mostly civilians — and seizing over 240 hostages under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. In the ongoing IDF ground operation, 172 soldiers have been killed.

On Sunday, the IDF announced the deaths of two more soldiers in the fighting, bringing the toll in the ground operation to 172:

• Sgt. Maj. (res.) Eliraz Gabai, 37, of the Yiftah Brigade’s 7810th Battalion, from Petah Tikva, killed Saturday in central Gaza.
• Sgt. First Class (res.) Liav Seada, 23, of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 7107th Battalion, from Tiberias, killed Sunday in the Strip’s north.

In response to questions about reports of possible progress toward a new agreement for the release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday evening at a press conference that “Hamas has issued all kinds of ultimatums that we’ve not accepted” but that if a viable deal is possible, “it will be carried out.”

Right now, he added carefully, “We see a possibility, maybe, for movement.” But he also stressed: “I don’t want to raise exaggerated expectations.”

It is believed that 129 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 23 of those still held by Hamas, citing new intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015, respectively; as well as the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014.

With talks apparently ongoing in the background, the IDF’s offensive continued to take its toll on Hamas’s commanders.

Abdul Fattah Amin Maali, a Hamas armed wing commander who was a right-hand man to the terror group’s chief bomb-maker decades ago, was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza, the Palestinian Shehab news outlet, which is considered close to Hamas, reported.

According to Shehab, Maali was a close associate of Yahya Ayyash, one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades, the terror group’s armed wing.

Nicknamed the Engineer, Ayyash was known both for developing Hamas’s use of suicide bombings and for building many of the explosives used in attacks that took the lives of dozens of Israelis in the early and mid-1990s. He was assassinated by the Shin Bet security service in January 1996.

Shehab said Maali was deported to Gaza after being released from Israeli prison and had been an al-Qassam commander himself.

Israeli Air Force fighter jets, meanwhile, carried out a wave of airstrikes overnight in the Gaza Strip, taking out terror targets and assisting the ongoing ground operations.

Palestinian outlets reported fighting around central Gaza, including Deir al-Balah and al-Maghazi, as well as Rafah in the Strip’s south. Reports also indicated gun battles took place in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, where Israeli troops have faced strong resistance.

The IDF said that it struck dozens of targets including Hamas military buildings, a tunnel, and other infrastructure. The Navy also carried out strikes along Gaza’s coast, aiding the ground forces, the military said.

South of Gaza City, the IDF said, troops of the 179th Brigade spotted four Hamas operatives with explosive devices approaching them. An airstrike was carried out against the cell.

Half an hour later, the IDF said, troops spotted another four Hamas operatives in the area, who were also struck by the IAF.

At the same time, a vehicle with Hamas operatives inside driving toward the troops was also struck, the IDF said.

An IAF fighter jet also struck a building from which Hamas activated an explosive device against the troops, according to the IDF.

In northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, the IDF said troops of the 551st Brigade spotted three Hamas operatives entering a building and called in an airstrike.

Meanwhile, during scans in the outskirts of the Shati camp in northern Gaza, the IDF said troops of the 14th Brigade located and neutralized anti-personnel explosive devices planted in a daycare center.

In southern Gaza, the IDF said several Hamas tunnels were discovered by the Desert Reconnaissance unit, better known as the Bedouin Trackers unit, which is operating under the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade.

In another incident, troops of the Paratroopers Brigade identified three Hamas operatives in the Khan Younis area and called in an airstrike, killing one. The other two gunmen, wielding RPGs, were later spotted between two buildings and were killed by tank shelling, according to the IDF.

The IDF also said the 7th Armored Brigade also spotted three Hamas operatives and directed an airstrike to kill them in southern Gaza.

But despite its achievements, the IDF does not believe it will be able to destroy the rocket-launching capabilities of Gaza-based terror groups fully, Army Radio reported Sunday.

The report said that while the military has had success in taking out launchers for long-range missiles, it will be harder to remove the threat of short-range fire at the Gaza border communities.

“Even in two years’ time, it’s possible that the residents of the Gaza Strip will still be hearing rocket alerts,” an unnamed senior officer told the outlet.

Amid the battles, dire shortages of food, safe water, fuel, and medicine continued to plague Gaza, with aid convoys able to offer only sporadic relief.

Shortages have been aggravated by Hamas stealing aid deliveries entering the Strip instead of distributing them to civilians. Footage has shown locals swamping aid trucks as they enter the Strip before the terrorists have a chance to take them away.

The UN says more than 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have fled their homes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the growing threat of infectious diseases and the UN says Gaza is “just weeks away” from famine.

In Khan Younis, medics at Nasser Hospital described severe shortages.

“The hospital is receiving a lot more (patients) than its capacity,” doctor Ahmad Abu Mustafa said in footage shared by the WHO. “The beds are full… and we are basically short on all sorts of medicine supplies.”

The fighting has put 23 hospitals and 53 health centers out of service, while 104 ambulances have been destroyed, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.

The Hamas health ministry said that at least 21,672 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago.

Figures issued by Hamas cannot be independently verified and include both civilians and terror operatives killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.

Israel says it is making an effort to avoid harm to civilians while fighting a terror group embedded within the civilian population. It has long accused Gaza-based terror groups of using Palestinians in the Strip as human shields, operating from sites, including schools and hospitals, which are supposed to be protected.