Mediators said to meet in Cairo to discuss Gaza truce’s second phase

Delegations from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, which along with the United States make up the mediators of the current ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, met on Tuesday in Cairo to discuss the second phase of the deal, Egyptian state-linked media reported.

Al-Qahera News, which has ties to Egyptian intelligence, said the meeting included the Egyptian and Turkish intelligence chiefs alongside the prime minister of Qatar.

The delegates discussed working with the US “to ensure the successful implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement” between Israel and Hamas, the channel reported.

Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the US act as both mediators and guarantors for the Gaza deal, which came into effect on October 10 after two years of war sparked by the Hamas-led mass terror onslaught of October 7, 2023.

According to Al-Qahera News, Tuesday’s meeting addressed “overcoming obstacles and limiting violations to ensure the ceasefire holds.”

The mediators on Tuesday also “agreed to continue strengthening coordination and cooperation with the Civil-Military Coordination Center” — the truce monitoring center set up by the US and its allies in southern Israel.

Their meeting in Cairo came two days after a senior Hamas delegation met with Egyptian spy chief Hassan Rashad to discuss the second phase of the truce and a recent escalation of hostilities in the Strip, as both Israel and the Palestinian terror group continued to trade accusations of ceasefire violations.

Hamas said senior leaders Muhammad Darwish, Khaled Mashaal, Khalil al-Hayya, Nizar Awdallah, Zaher Jabarin and Ghazi Hamed met on Sunday with Rashad.

They discussed “ways to urgently address, via mediators’ efforts with the various parties,” and the issue of dozens of Hamas operatives holed up underground in Israeli-controlled Rafah, Hamas said in a statement. It added that contact with the operatives had been lost.

The statement came after Israel on Friday, in the wake of attacks on its troops, killed or captured 17 terror operatives who tried to flee a tunnel in eastern Rafah.

On Saturday, Israel carried out deadly strikes across Gaza in response to an attack on troops in the Strip’s south. According to Israel, the strikes killed several Hamas commanders. And on Monday, the IDF said it killed suspects who crossed the Yellow Line demarcating the military’s withdrawal in several separate incidents.

On Tuesday evening Israel said it killed five more gunmen in eastern Rafah.

The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan formed the basis of Israel and Hamas’s October 9 truce-hostage deal.

In the next stage of the plan, Israel is meant to withdraw further from the so-called Yellow Line, alongside the establishment of a transitional authority to govern Gaza, the deployment of the multinational security force meant to take over from the Israeli military, the disarmament of Hamas and the start of reconstruction.

Hamas has so far refused to agree on the matter of demilitarization. Israel insists the Strip must be demilitarized before Trump’s plan can advance.

Additionally, terrorists are still holding the bodies of up to three deceased hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attack: Dror Or, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak. All living and dead hostages were supposed to be returned to Israel under the ceasefire.

Hamas on Tuesday afternoon handed over to Israel what it said is the body of one of the three hostages, though this hasn’t been confirmed and the identification process may take up to two days.