No breakthroughs in Cairo talks as US says mediators pushing ‘feverishly’ for deal
Hamas official says terror group relayed its response to American ‘bridging proposal,’ denies hostage-ceasefire agreement could be imminent; lower-level negotiators to reconvene
There was no agreement on Sunday in the hostage-ceasefire talks that took place in Cairo, with neither Hamas nor Israel agreeing to several compromises presented by mediators, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters, casting doubt on the chances of success in the latest US-backed effort to end the 10-month old war in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas meanwhile launched a long-range rocket from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis at central Israel, setting off sirens in an open area of Rishon Lezion where it impacted, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There were no reports of injuries in the attack, which Hamas said targeted Tel Aviv.
Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end the fighting triggered by Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack on southern Israel and free the more than 100 remaining hostages held by the Palestinian terror group.
Speaking at a news conference in Halifax, Canada, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington was still “feverishly” working in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatari mediators as well as the Israelis to get a ceasefire and a hostage deal.
Key sticking points in ongoing talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5-kilometer-long (9-mile-long) stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Mediators put forward a number of alternatives to the presence of Israeli forces on the Philadelphi Corridor as well as the Netzarim Corridor, which cuts across the middle of the Gaza Strip, but none were accepted by the parties, Egyptian sources said.
Israel also expressed reservations about several of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas is demanding to see released, and has insisted they leave Gaza if they are released, the sources added.
Hamas said Israel has backtracked on a commitment to withdraw troops from the corridor and put forward other new conditions, including screening Palestinians for weapons as they return to the enclave’s more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins.
“We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the group’s Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday.
Hamdan also said Hamas has handed to mediators its response to the latest proposal, saying US talk of an imminent deal is false.
A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after holding talks with mediators, senior official Izzat El-Reshiq said, adding that the terror group had reiterated its demand that any agreement must stipulate a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The Israeli negotiating team also left Cairo, returning to Israel to discuss the next steps with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Hebrew media reports. Unnamed officials cited by Channel 12 news said the talks were moving in the right direction and that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was under heavy pressure to accept the deal.
US officials also struck a hopeful note about the trajectory of the negotiations, with one official telling The Times of Israel that the talks in Cairo were “constructive and were conducted in the spirit of reaching a final and implementable agreement with all sides sharing that sentiment.”
“The process will continue over the coming days through working groups to further address remaining issues and details,” the US official said.
Despite the US official’s optimistic framing, the Biden administration had last week indicated it was aiming to have a deal reached by now.
On August 16, the US submitted what it branded as a “final bridging proposal” to Israel and Hamas, adding that lower-level negotiating teams would subsequently meet to work out the disputes between the sides before top officials reconvened this weekend to ink a deal.
But midway through last week, talk of an imminent finalization of the deal dissipated. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters after visiting the region that additional agreements on implementing the agreement would have to be reached if Hamas agrees to the US proposal, appearing to add another step in the process until a ceasefire would take effect.
Indeed, the fact that lower-level “working groups” are again reconvening suggests the sides are not yet ready for their top decision-makers to finalize a deal.
Still, a US source familiar with the negotiations explained that progress had been made over the past four days in Cairo.
The sides negotiated based on the US bridging proposal, which incorporated details from US President Joe Biden’s May 31 speech and UN Security Council Resolution 2735, which have served as the framework for talks along with subsequent clarifications from Hamas and Israel, the source explains.
This past Thursday, an Israeli negotiating team met US and Egyptian mediators in Cairo in an effort to narrow the remaining gaps and clarify outstanding issues that Jerusalem had with the bridging proposal. The US and Egyptian mediators then held bilateral consultations the next day. On Saturday, Qatari and Egyptian mediators sat down with senior Hamas negotiators to walk them through each clause of the US bridging proposal, identifying any outstanding issues and answering any questions that the terror group had, the US source said.
On Sunday, Israeli negotiators rejoined the talks with the US and Egyptian mediators to further narrow gaps, the source added, stressing that the talks were ongoing.
Earlier in the day, an Israeli official who spoke to The Times of Israel indicated that Jerusalem was willing to pursue talks as long as there is a chance they will succeed, but was less than optimistic that Hamas will agree to a deal.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
