CAIRO, March 5. /TASS/. Multilateral talks in Cairo on reaching an agreement between radical Palestinian movement Hamas and Israel on introducing a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and swapping hostages for Palestinian prisoners are difficult but they do continue, Al Hadath said.

According to a high-ranking source in Egypt’s delegation which serves as one of the mediators at the Cairo consultations, "talks between Hamas and Israel are tough but they still continue." He refuted information that the meetings on Gaza in the Egyptian capital had stopped saying that "such reports are disconnected from reality."

Some time ago, Reuters reported that the Cairo talks on the Gaza settlement had purportedly ended without any result. That said, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told the news agency that the militant group had presented its proposals for a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave, adding that it was now waiting for a response from Israel.

Earlier, according to Al-Qahera al-Ekhbariya, the Cairo dialogue participants from Egypt, Qatar and the US proposed to introduce a ceasefire regime for a week in return for the release of several elderly hostages held in the enclave. It was noted that the Hamas militants disagreed with the proposal to introduce a short pause in combat and insisted on extending it as much as possible.

The Cairo talks on a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave have been underway since March 3. The Israeli delegation is not participating in the current round. On March 4, Egypt’s Al-Ghad TV channel, citing a source, claimed that the sides had made "significant progress" on the first day of talks and were aiming to reach some kind of agreement by March 11.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. On December 1, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accused Hamas of violating a ceasefire in effect since November 24 and announced renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip. Palestine’s authorities said the US was responsible for Israel’s renewed aggression.