Negotiators in Cairo said pursuing days-long pause to buy time for talks on longer truce

Mediators have proposed a short-term truce lasting only a few days to buy time and build trust between Israel and Hamas as efforts for a more comprehensive six-week pause in fighting flounder, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The idea is being pushed by both US and Arab parties to the talks in Cairo, the paper says.

The report also quotes an Israeli official detailing US Vice President Kamala Harris’s criticism of Israel’s war effort in a Monday meeting with war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, saying that the White House is harboring “criticism and mistrust” toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There were harsh messages on aid and strategic clarity moving forward,” the official says.

According to the official, Gantz told US officials in his meetings that “finishing the war without demilitarizing Rafah is like sending in firefighters to put out 80% of a fire.”