Egypt to continue meeting with parties involved in talks over cease-fire in Gaza

ISTANBUL

Egypt said late on Tuesday it will intensify its meetings with parties involved in the ongoing talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in Gaza.

The Egyptian announcement comes as it declared receiving a response by Hamas to a Gaza cease-fire proposal drafted during a recent meeting in Paris.

In a statement, Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egyptian State Information Service (SIS), said Egypt will continue to exert its utmost efforts to reach a cease-fire agreement to end the fighting soon in the Gaza Strip, as well as to preserve "the lives of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights."

Rashwan stressed that Egypt will discuss all the details of the proposed framework with the relevant parties as soon as possible in order to reach a cease-fire and restore peace and stability to the region.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas said it had delivered its response to Egypt and Qatar regarding the "framework agreement" for a proposed prisoner swap deal and cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Tuesday that Doha had received Hamas's response to the deal.

"The Hamas response contains notes but is generally positive," he added.

Hamas is believed to be holding around 136 Israelis.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on Gaza following an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas, killing at least 27,585 Palestinians and injuring 66,978 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar