DUBAI, May 5. /TASS/. Another round of consultations on the settlement of the conflict in the Gaza Strip with the participation of Israeli and Hamas representatives has finished in Cairo, the Al Hadath television channel said.
According to the TV channel’s sources n Hamas, the movement’s delegation is returning to Doha. No further details were gven.
Meanwhile, the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper said, citing a source in Egypt, that Cairo and Doha continue mediatory efforts at all levels to finally reach an agreement of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. But, according to the source, the sides are still negotiating details of the deal, in particular concerning the return of temporarily displaced people to the north of the Gaza Strip and the list of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails to be released in exchange for Israeli hostages.
According to the newspaper’s source, the draft agreement envisaged three stages of the conflict settlement. The source also said that the US administration officials had encountered problems in talking Israel into ending the military operation in the enclave and suggested a stage-by-stage solution. Due to this, the Hamas delegation decided to cut the number of hostages it would release at the first stage of the deal from 33 to ten out of fear that Israel would resume combat operations as soon as all the civilian hostages are released.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.
In late November 2023, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The sides extended the ceasefire several times but on the morning of December 1 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.
According to the latest data from Gaza’s health ministry, the death toll from Israeli bombardments of the Gaza Strip has climbed to 34,683, with 78,018 people being wounded.