Negotiations to pause the Israel-Hamas war and free the remaining hostages headed into a second day in Cairo yesterday, as displaced Gazans braced for an expected Israeli assault on their last refuge of Rafah.
A Hamas source said that a delegation was headed to Cairo to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with the mediators on Tuesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war, was yesterday also due in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Photo: EPA-EFE
CIA Director William Burns joined Tuesday’s talks with Mossad Director David Barnea, which were mostly “positive,” Egyptian media said.
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby described the negotiations as “constructive and moving in the right direction.”
Mediators are racing to secure a pause to the fighting before Israel proceeds with a full-scale ground incursion into the Gaza Strip’s far-southern city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are trapped.
The potential for mass civilian casualties has triggered urgent appeals, even from close allies, for Israel to hold off sending troops into the last major population center they have yet to enter in the four-month war.
Key ally the US has said it would not back any ground operation in Rafah without a “credible plan” for protecting civilians.
Rafah is the main entry point for desperately needed relief supplies and UN agencies have warned of a humanitarian disaster if an assault goes ahead.
UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that any military operation “could lead to a slaughter.”
Late on Tuesday, the Israeli military released a video it said was from a security camera and showed Gaza’s Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar and family members escaping through a tunnel days after the Oct. 7 attack that launched the war.
“The hunt will not stop until he is captured alive or dead,” Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
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