AFP :
Negotiators geared up for a crucial weekend of truce talks Saturday, as Hamas said it was sending delegates to Cairo, but that they would not participate, and Israel continued to bombard Gaza targets.
The conflict displaced nearly all of Gaza’s population at least once and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
The United States, Egypt, and Qatar have spent months trying to broker an end to more than 10 months of war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.
The White House said Friday that progress had been made at the latest round this week, although the possible permanent presence of Israeli troops along the Gaza-Egypt border has emerged as a major sticking point.
Previous bouts of optimism during months of on-off ceasefire and hostage release negotiations have always proven unfounded.
A senior Hamas official said a delegation from the Palestinian fighter group was heading to Cairo, but that they would not engage in the talks. Instead, they would meet with senior Egyptian officials for updates on the negotiations.
The delegation would “be briefed… but this does not mean it will take part in the negotiations,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Hamas has said from the beginning that it will not participate in this round of negotiations.”
The official said Hamas will insist Israel withdraw all its forces from all of Gaza, including “from the border area with Egypt,” known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
‘Bridge the gap’
The basis of the talks is a framework that US President Joe Biden outlined on May 31, and which he described as an Israeli proposal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since insisted on keeping the troops along the corridor, arguing that Israel needs to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its strength by smuggling in arms from Egypt.
The White House said CIA chief William Burns was among US officials taking part in the Cairo talks, alongside the heads of Israel’s spy agency and security service.
“The discussions are taking place in Cairo… in preparation for an enlarged round of negotiations which will begin on Sunday,” said an Egyptian source close to the talks.
“Washington is discussing with mediators’ new proposals to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas and for mechanisms to implement” the plan
The Egyptian source said Sunday’s negotiations would be “a pivotal step in formulating an agreement that will be announced if Washington can pressure Netanyahu.”
Fighting raged in Gaza on Saturday, with AFP correspondents and civil defence sources reporting ongoing Israeli artillery fire and air strikes across the Hamas-run territory.
In Gaza City’s Zeitun neighbourhood, gunfire and explosions echoed as Palestinian fighters clashed with Israeli soldiers, they added.
An overnight strike on a house west of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza killed 11 people, including a woman and four children, a doctor at Nasser Hospital said.
The civil defence agency said Israeli forces had killed 35 people on Friday.
The United Nations said on Friday that tens of thousands of civilians were on the move from Deir el-Balah and Khan Yunis after Israeli evacuation orders, which precede military operations.