CAIRO: Negotiations to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will resume in Cairo on Sunday.
According to Anadolu Agency, private Egyptian broadcaster Al-Qahera News reported this on Saturday, citing unnamed “high-level Egyptian sources,“ while no official statement has been issued by Egyptian authorities so far.
The sources added that the United States (US) CIA Director Bill Burns, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, and an Israeli delegation are also participating in the talks.
A senior delegation from Gaza-based group Hamas is also expected to also arrive in Cairo at Egypt’s invitation Sunday to discuss developments related to the ceasefire in Gaza, the report further said.
On Friday, a US administration official said President Joe Biden recently sent two special letters to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani related to accelerating ceasefire negotiations, Anadolu Agency reported US media said.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early October by the Palestinian group, Hamas, killed less than 1,200 people.
More than 33,100 Palestinians have since been killed and over 75,800 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85 percent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations (UN).
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza. - ANADOLU
