As Ramadan approaches, intense efforts are being made to reach a truce in Gaza.
The Hamas movement said on Sunday that agreeing on a truce in Gaza is possible within “24 to 48 hours” if Israel agrees to its demands, while an official source said that a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo to hold ceasefire talks.
He added that the delegation is headed by Deputy Chairman of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya.
A Palestinian official familiar with the truce talks told Reuters that they were not yet close to finalizing the agreement, when asked whether concluding the agreement was imminent.
Moreover, the delegations of Qatar and the United States also arrived in Cairo to participate in the ceasefire talks.
Informed sources said that Israel will not send any delegation to the Egyptian capital for negotiations until it obtains a complete list of the names of Israeli detainees who are still alive. Egyptian media reported that delegations of Hamas, Qatar, and the United States arrived in Cairo on Sunday.
The United States of America announced on Saturday that Israel had accepted in principle the terms of a truce proposal in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while Egyptian security sources said that mediators would meet in Cairo to search for a formula acceptable to Israel and Hamas.
Before the month of Ramadan, which begins on March 10 or 11, the mediators are striving to reach a truce in the war that has been going on for nearly five months and has led to the destruction of the Gaza
Strip, which is threatened by famine.
While Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadith sources reported on Sunday that the Hamas movement will send its final response to the mediators soon, adding that a delegation from the movement will hold a session with the mediators in Egypt in the coming hours, and Israel has not yet confirmed its acceptance of the truce plan.
Informed sources said that the mediators are expected to meet in Cairo on Sunday in search of an acceptable formula for Israel and the Hamas movement to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, after foreign governments resorted to airdropping aid to civilians in the Strip.
Over the past few days, hopes have increased for achieving the first cessation of fighting since November, following a round of talks mediated by Qatar and Egypt in Doha and indications from US President Joe Biden that an agreement is close to being reached.
In Washington, an American official told the press, requesting that his name not be revealed, that “the Israelis have accepted in principle the elements of the agreement. The ball is now in Hamas’ court.”
In turn, the official Egyptian media quoted a “senior” source that talks to reach a truce in Gaza “will resume tomorrow in Cairo with the participation of all parties.”
This comes as members of the UN Security Council expressed their deep concern “about reports indicating that more than 100 people lost their lives and that hundreds of others were injured in an incident in which Israeli forces participated in a large gathering surrounding a humanitarian aid convoy southwest of Gaza City.”
In a press statement issued on Saturday evening, Council members reiterated “the need for all parties to conflicts to comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as appropriate.”
Council members called on all parties to “refrain from depriving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip of basic services and humanitarian assistance necessary for their survival, in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
The members of the Security Council expressed “deep concern about the IPC estimates that indicate that the entire population of Gaza – 2.2 million people – will face alarming levels of acute food insecurity.”
Gaza is facing a decline in the delivery of relief supplies across the land borders, especially the Rafah crossing with Egypt, and relief organizations attribute this to Israeli restrictions.
Several Arab and European countries have carried out airdrops of aid into Gaza since November.
In the midst of this, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Saturday that at least 13 children had died due to “malnutrition and dehydration,” two days after dozens of Palestinians were killed while trying to obtain aid from a convoy of relief trucks in Gaza City.
The death toll from the war in Gaza rose to 30,320 dead, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health.
The war began on October 7 with an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel that led to the killing of about 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to official Israeli figures.
Also, 250 people were held captive during the attack, 130 of whom are still in captivity, according to Israel, which estimates that 31 of them were killed in the Gaza Strip.
While the mediators seek to reach an agreement that may include more aid to Gaza and the release of prisoners, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing internal pressure regarding the fate of the remaining prisoners in Gaza.
In this regard, Israeli demonstrators arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday at the end of a four-day march from the Gaza border to pressure the government.
