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Negotiations underway in Cairo to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza will continue on the working group level for the next few days as parties try to iron out some specific issues, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday read more
 "Gaza ceasefire talks to iron out 'specific issues' to continue in Cairo, says White House")
Palestinians inspect damage in Qatari-funded Hamad City, following an Israeli raid, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 24, 2024. Reuters File
Negotiations underway in Cairo to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza will continue on the working group level for the next few days as parties try to iron out some specific issues, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday.
One of the issues that will be tackled by the working groups will be around the exchange of hostages Hamas is holding and Palestinian prisoners, Kirby said.
The exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend has not had an impact on the talks in Cairo, he added.
Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
Key sticking points in ongoing talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5-km-long (9-mile-long) stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Mediators put forward a number of alternatives to the presence of Israeli forces on the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor which cuts across the middle of the Gaza Strip, but none were accepted by the parties, Egyptian sources said.
Israel also expressed reservations on several of the Palestinian detainees Hamas is demanding the release of, and Israel demanded their exit of Gaza if they are released, the sources added.
Hamas said Israel has backtracked on a commitment to withdraw troops from the Corridor and put forward other new conditions, including the screening of displaced Palestinians as they return to the enclave’s more heavily populated north when the ceasefire begins.
“We will not accept discussions about retractions from what we agreed to on July 2 or new conditions,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the group’s Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday.
In July, Hamas accepted a U.S. proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, a senior Hamas source has told Reuters.
A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after holding talks with mediators, senior official Izzat El-Reshiq said, adding that the group had reiterated its demand that any agreement must stipulate a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
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