Reports: Egyptians bringing ‘comprehensive’ Gaza offer to Israel as truce efforts resume
Biden said to press Netanyahu on shifting focus to clinching swift deal with Hamas after agreement reached in Lebanon; Cairo reportedly tells Hamas it has been ‘isolated’
An Egyptian security delegation was set to arrive in Israel on Thursday to jumpstart talks to secure a Gaza ceasefire deal, as mediators buoyed by a truce in Lebanon redoubled efforts for a long-elusive agreement freeing hostages and ending the war.
According to a report late Wednesday, US President Joe Biden pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call this week to immediately shift attention back to Gaza with the end of fighting in Lebanon. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration was also reportedly being approached about pushing Israel toward a deal.
Hamas indicated Wednesday that it was ready for a truce in Gaza after a ceasefire came into effect in Lebanon with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which had attacked Israel in support of its ally Hamas starting October 8, 2023, prompting reprisals and later an intensified IDF military campaign that destroyed much of the group.
Officials had expressed hopes that taking the key Hamas ally off the battlefield could help push the Gazan terror group toward an agreement ending the war and freeing hostages.
According to two Egyptian security sources who spoke to Reuters, a security delegation from Cairo was set to arrive in Israel Thursday for talks on the ceasefire.
The Cairo officials were expected to present Israel with a “comprehensive vision” for an agreement in their talks, according to a separate Thursday report in the Hezbollah-linked al-Akhbar news outlet.
Indirect talks aimed at a deal freeing 101 hostages held in Gaza and ending some 14 months of fighting there have stalled since the summer, after multiple rounds of negotiations mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar failed to bring the sides together.
Hamas has demanded that any agreement bring a complete end to the war in Gaza, along with it a full Israeli withdrawal from the enclave. It also seeks the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages, who were among 251 kidnapped during the terror group’s October 7, 2023, rampage in southern Israel; some 1,200 people were also massacred during the attack, which prompted the war.
Jerusalem has insisted that troops remain in Gaza to prevent arms smuggling from Egypt and says it is prepared only for a temporary halt in its campaign to destroy Hamas.
According to al-Akhbar, the plan calls for a truce that will initially last a month or two and will see the gradual release of hostages, with first priority given to older captives or those who are sick.
Concurrently, “broader and longer discussions will take place, without military pressure on the ground,” the report said.
Egyptian officials will request that Hamas be given a period of several days after the truce begins in order to provide a list of the living hostages, according to the report. In the past, Hamas’s inability to provide guarantees of who it will release has been cited as an obstacle to agreements.
The plan would also see the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and Gaza quickly returned to operation, under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority, with Egyptian oversight.
Israel would be given the right to veto exit permits to Egypt, with Cairo guaranteeing it will secure a Palestinian commitment that Hamas will not be allowed to control either the crossing or the Strip “during the coming period.”
Biden announced the renewed Gaza ceasefire push on Tuesday in a speech detailing the ceasefire in Lebanon.
“Over the coming days, the United States will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with the hostages released and the end to the war without Hamas in power,” he said from the Rose Garden.
During a call with Netanyahu ahead of the announcement of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, Biden told Netanyahu that now was the time to focus on securing a deal in Gaza for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held by the Hamas terror group.
“We have an opportunity now. Let’s get the hostages,” Biden told Netanyahu according to US officials who spoke to the American news site Axios.
The sources said the prime minister responded positively to Biden’s comment and said he wanted to try.
Egyptian officials are also looking to enlist Trump to help pressure Netanyahu, with the president-elect’s team already being kept in the loop on talks efforts.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal Thursday, Egyptian officials have been in contact with Trump’s staff to gauge whether he could make inroads on softening Israel’s positions in the negotiations, namely regarding control of the Gaza-Egypt border and the creation of a buffer zone between Israel and the Strip.
Egyptian officials have also seemingly sought to soften Hamas’s stance, the paper reported, conveying to the group that its negotiating position had weakened since being “isolated” by the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The officials told the group it would be unlikely to be able to continue insisting on a full Israeli withdrawal, according to the report.
Since Qatar withdrew from the mediation and kicked Hamas leaders out of Doha earlier this month, Egypt has emerged as a potential key conduit between the warring parties, alongside Turkey, where most of Hamas’s senior leadership have relocated.
It is believed that 97 of the hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
