Israeli, Hamas delegations to reach Cairo today for talks
A delegation of senior Israeli officials led by Mossad Chief David Barnea will reach Cairo on Monday for indirect mediatory talks with Hamas.
US President Joe Biden has expressed hope for an extention of the humanitarian deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip “so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief into those in need in Gaza”.
Biden’s remarks come as the deal entered it’s last and fourth day. As per the agreement, a four day ceasefire was agreed by Israel in exchange for the release of hostages being held by Hamas.
As per the deal brokered by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, Israel will observe a ceasefire for four days and in return, Hamas will free Israeli around 50 hostages in batches. So far, Hamas has released three batches of 12-14 hostages in the first three days.
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Israel has also freed Palestinian prisoners in exchange and allowed humanitarian aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Meanwhile, Hamas has also offered to extend the deal for another 2-4 days that will see the release of up to 40 additional Israeli hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also hinted the deal could be extended further but vowed action with full force once the deal is off.
On Sunday, Hamas released a group of fourteen Israeli and three foreign nationals and Israel freed a further 39 Palestinian prisoners in return. This was the third such release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
Israel declared a war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in response to its deadly October 7 attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed and around 240 others were kidnapped.
Hamas-run health ministry has said that more than 14,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli’s retaliatory campaign since October 7.
Following days of fighting, both the warring factions relented under international pressure and agreed on a deal to pause the fighting and release hostages.
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