Irresolvable disputes between the Israeli and Hamas delegations to indirect talks on hostage exchange and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip are preventing an agreement from being reached, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority, citing “informed sources,” reported the latest round of talks, which began in the Egyptian capital Cairo last Tuesday. The Israeli delegation left Cairo on Thursday evening and returned to Israel.
The report quoted unnamed informed sources as saying that there were “irresolvable disputes” between the two sides, but did not reveal the nature of the differences.
According to the broadcast, Israel’s security cabinet will meet Thursday evening to discuss how to proceed after the delegation leaves Cairo.
Earlier on Thursday, Egyptian TV channel Al-Qahera News quoted a senior Egyptian source as saying that the Hamas and Israeli delegations left Cairo on Thursday without discussing a new date.
Late Monday, Hamas said it had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal prepared by Egypt and Qatar. However, Israel said the truce offer accepted by Hamas did not meet its key demands and decided to continue the Rafah operation in southern Israel to put “military pressure on Hamas to make progress on the release of hostages and other war aims.”
Israel has killed more than 34,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 78,500 since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on 7 October last year that killed 1,200 people.
According to the UN, vast swathes of Gaza have been reduced to rubble in seven months of Israeli warfare, leaving 85 per cent of the enclave’s population displaced under a brutal blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
