JERUSALEM

Top Israeli security officials visited Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Israeli media said on Tuesday.  

Mossad chief David Barnea and Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, met with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad on Monday to discuss security arrangements along the Philadelphi Corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said, citing unnamed Israeli officials. 

The talks also dwelt on a mechanism to manage the ceasefire and possible violations, KAN said.  

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement requires Israel to gradually reduce the number of its forces along the corridor.  

The discussions also took up the issue of Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences who will be released and deported outside the Palestinian territories, KAN said.  

Under the ceasefire deal, scores of Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences will be deported outside the occupied lands.  

Israel is set to release a second batch of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday under the agreement.  

There was no immediate comment from Egyptian authorities on the report.  

The first six-week phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect on Jan. 19, suspending the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave. 

The 3-phase ceasefire agreement includes a prisoner exchange and sustained calm, aiming for a permanent truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.  

Nearly 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and more than 110,700 others injured in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to local health authorities.  

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.  

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.  

*Writing by Betul Yilmaz