Talks on Gaza cease-fire, prisoner exchange conclude in Egypt: Israeli media

JERUSALEM

Officials from Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the US concluded negotiations in Cairo on Tuesday aimed at securing another cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian group Hamas, Israeli media reported.

"Hamas's position has not changed, and it still insists on ending the war, which Israel has not accepted," Israel's public broadcaster KAN quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying, without providing further details.

There have been no comments by the attendees or Hamas on the meeting so far.

An Israeli security delegation headed to Cairo earlier in the day to take part in the meeting along with representatives from Egypt, Qatar and the US to discuss the prospects of reaching a cease-fire and hostage swap deal.

According to the broadcaster, the delegation included Israel’s Mossad spy chief David Barnea and Shin Bet security agency director Ronen Bar.

The meeting was also attended by US CIA Director William Burns, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

A Hamas delegation visited the Egyptian capital last week for talks on a possible hostage swap deal with Israel.

Hamas proposed a three-stage plan for a Gaza cease-fire that includes a 135-day pause in the fighting in return for the release of hostages, according to a Palestinian source.

The original framework agreement for a Gaza cease-fire was worked out during a meeting in Paris last month of top officials from the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, rejected Hamas's offer for a cease-fire and vowed to continue his Gaza war until achieving a “crushing victory” over the Palestinian group.

Israel believes that 134 Israelis are still being held in Gaza after the Israeli army managed on Monday to free two hostages in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing at least 28,473 people and injuring 68,146 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement 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.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio