TUNIS, April 7. /TASS/. A Hamas delegation is expected to arrive in Cairo within hours to discuss Egypt’s proposal on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Al Araby Al Jadeed newspaper said, citing its sources.
According to the newspaper, the consultations will focus on "Egypt’s mediatory efforts toward a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s proposal on a truce and partial exchange of hostages." This proposal, the fourth one in less than a month, envisages the release of nine Israeli hostages, including one with a US passport, and the handing over of the bodies of three hostages with US citizenship. Israel, in turn, is supposed to set hundreds of Palestinian prisoners free and extend the ceasefire for 70 days so that talks on the second phase of the ceasefire can resume. Israel will also have to lift the ban on humanitarian aid and fuel supplies to the enclave, open border checkpoints, and provide data on Palestinians who are still held in Israeli prisons.
Apart from that, according to the sources, the Egyptian side plans to discuss with the Hamas delegation Fatah’s proposal on bridging gaps between the Palestinian factions. A Fatah delegation led by the movement’s senior official Jibril Rajoub visited Cairo on April 5 and shared its vision of ways to overcome the differences with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
On March 18, Israel resumed hostilities in the Gaza Strip and delivered a series of strikes on Hamas targets, thus cutting short the ceasefire that had been in place in the enclave since January 2025. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office explained the move by Hamas' rejections of proposals advanced after talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff. It claimed that the goal of the operation was to release all of the Israeli hostages. Hamas placed responsibility for this latest spiral of escalation in Gaza on Israel and the United States.