Hamas says Gaza truce talks remain deadlocked despite reports of progress

CAIRO - A Hamas official said on April 8 no progress was made at a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo also attended by delegations from Israel, Qatar and the US, shortly after Egyptian sources said headway had been made on the agenda.

Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on April 7 after the arrival a day earlier of Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns, whose presence underlined rising US pressure for a deal that would free hostages held in Gaza and get aid to stricken civilians.

“There is no change in the position of the occupation and therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,” the Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. “There is no progress yet.”

Earlier on April 8, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV channel quoted a senior Egyptian source as saying progress had been made after a deal was reached among participating delegations on issues under discussion.

Six months into its offensive against Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that has devastated Gaza and left most of its 2.3 million people homeless and many facing famine, Israel voiced cautious optimism about the latest mediated negotiations.

In Jerusalem at the weekend, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the Cairo talks as the closest the sides have come to a deal since a November truce, under which Hamas freed dozens of hostages.

Hamas seized 253 people during an

Oct 7 cross-border attack

in southern Israel that ignited the war. Of those, around 130 hostages remain, and negotiators have spoken of around 40 going free in the first stage of a prospective deal.

Two Egyptian security sources and Al Qahera News said progress had been made in the Cairo talks.

The security sources said both sides had made concessions that could help pave the way for a deal for a truce which – as proposed during previous talks – would be staggered over three stages, with the release of any remaining Israeli hostages and a long-term ceasefire addressed in the second stage.

The concessions relate to the freeing of hostages and Hamas’ demand for the return of displaced residents to northern Gaza, they said. Mediators suggested the return could be monitored by an Arab force in the presence of Israeli security deployments that would later be pulled back, they added.

Delegations left Cairo and consultations were expected to continue within 48 hours, the sources and Al Qahera said.

A Palestinian official close to mediation efforts said that deadlock continued to reign over Israel’s refusal to end the war, withdraw its forces from Gaza, allow hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to return home and lift a 17-year-old blockade to allow speedy reconstruction. These steps take precedence over Israel’s prime demand for a release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Regarding the exchange of prisoners, Hamas was and is willing to be more flexible, but there is no flexibility over our... main demands,” he said.

Israel has ruled out winding up the war shortly or withdrawing from Gaza, saying its forces will not relent until Hamas no longer controls Gaza or threatens Israel militarily.

Asked about the talks by reporters on April 8, Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman would not go into detail, saying only: “The most important thing is that the right people are in the right place at the right time to discuss a way in which the 133 Israeli hostages can be released.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on April 7 that

Israel would not agree to a ceasefire without the release of hostages,

while Hamas reiterated its demands, which include a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and a return of displaced people.

Hamas killed 1,200 people in its rampage into southern Israel on Oct 7, according to Israeli tallies.

Some 33,207 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli response, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Israel’s army says more than 600 of its soldiers have been killed in combat.

Western countries have voiced outrage over what they see as an unacceptably high Palestinian civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza that have resulted from Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas. REUTERS