The delegate of the terrorist group Hamas has officially left talks in Cairo, Egypt without a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza, expressing disinterest in peace talks for Gaza.
But, Hamas says that indirect negotiations with Israel are not over yet.
The world has been hoping that a 40-day truce could be in place for the start of the Islamic month of Ramadan next week. But,with more signs of a famine in the Gaza strip, international pressure has only grown since.
But Egyptian and Qatari mediators have struggled to seal a deal that would see Hamas free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Causing the delegate of Hamas to walk out.
Israel did not send a delegate to Cairo by saying it first wanted a list of the surviving hostages who could be released under the agreement.
Why did Hamas back out from the deal?
Hamas claimed that Israel did not accept its demands for displaced Palestinians to be able to return to their homes or a complete withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza.
More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since the October 7 attacks, the Hamas-run health ministry says. However, How can we trust the health ministry of a terrorist group?
A Hamas statement said its delegate left the Egyptian capital on Thursday morning “for consultation with the leadership of the movement, with negotiations and efforts continuing to stop the aggression, return the displaced and bring in relief aid to our people”.
Egyptian state-affiliated TV channel al-Qahera meanwhile cited a senior source as saying that the negotiations would resume next week, probably in Cairo.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli government.
The long-awaited deal
On Wednesday, the US state department said it believed the obstacles raised were “not insurmountable and a deal can be reached”.
The proposed agreement would possibly see the release of 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for about 10 times as many Palestinian prisoners being freed from Israeli jails.
More than 130 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas. Israeli officials have said that at least 30 of them are dead.
Over the course of the proposed 40-day truce, there would be a possibility of a surge in desperately needed aid entering into Gaza, to ease the situation before the holy month of Ramadan.
During a week-long ceasefire in November last year, 105 hostages in which most of them women and children, were freed in return for an estimated 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Hamas hasn’t released the same amount of hostages that Israel has released.
Meanwhile, amid reports of further deaths in Gaza from starvation, the UK and the US are pressing Israel to increase the flow of aid. Israel has now started blaming the UN for aid distribution problems.
