(Reuters) – Egypt has proposed an initial 2-day ceasefire in Gaza, to exchange 4 Israeli hostages of Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners, Egypt’s president said on Sunday (27), as Israeli military strikes killed 45 Palestinians across the enclave.
Egyptian Leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made the announcement, as efforts to defuse the devastating, more than year-long war resumed, in Qatar with Directors of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency taking part.
Speaking alongside Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, during a press conference in Cairo, Sisi also said that talks should resume within 10 days of implementing the temporary ceasefire, in efforts to reach a permanent one.
There was no immediate comment from Israel or Hamas, but a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters: “I expect Hamas would listen to the new offers, but it remains determined that any agreement must end the war and get Israeli forces out of Gaza.”
Israel has said the war cannot end until Hamas has been wiped out as a military force and governing entity in Gaza.
The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have been spearheading negotiations to end the war that erupted after Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.
The death toll from Israel’s retaliatory air and ground onslaught in Gaza is approaching 43,000, Gaza health officials say, with the densely populated enclave in ruins.
An official briefed on the talks, told Reuters earlier on Sunday (27), that negotiations in Doha will seek a short-term ceasefire and the release of some hostages being held by Hamas, in exchange for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners.
The objective, still elusive after multiple mediation attempts, is to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a halt in fighting for less than a month, in the hope this would lead to a more permanent ceasefire.
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