PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Talks were expected to resume in Egypt on Saturday that aimed to halt months of war between Hamas militants and Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip that have triggered widening protests around the world.
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been waiting for the Palestinian Islamist movement to respond to a proposal that, according to details released by the United Kingdom, would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
"All delegations have now arrived in Egypt, and at 1 p.m. (local time), the first round of negotiations will begin with the presence of all Qatari, Egyptian and even American delegations," a senior Hamas official, who was not authorized to talk publicly, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) anonymously.
Months of negotiations stalled in part on Hamas' demand for a lasting ceasefire and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's repeated vows to crush the group's remaining fighters in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah.
The prospect of a Rafah invasion, threatened for three months alongside stop-start truce talks, has sparked intensifying global alarm.
After a meeting in Cairo about a week ago, the Hamas delegation returned to Qatar, where its chief Ismail Haniyeh is based, to discuss the truce proposal.
The war broke out after Hamas' unprecedented October 7 attacks on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, an AFP tally of Israeli official figures showed.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has carried out a retaliatory campaign of bombardment and fighting on the ground that has killed at least 34,654 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry said.
More deaths
Gaza's Civil Defense agency and hospitals reported several more deaths from strikes in Gaza's north and center, and in Rafah.
The United Nations says more than 70 percent of Gaza's residential buildings have been completely or partly destroyed, and rebuilding will require an effort unseen since World War II.
Accepting a ceasefire deal with Israel should be a "no-brainer" for Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday night.
"The reality in this moment is the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas," he said.
The World Health Organization says 1.2 million people — half of Gaza's population — have sought refuge in Rafah. Aid groups say an invasion would only add to an existing humanitarian catastrophe.
On Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern "that a full-scale military operation in Rafah, Gaza, could lead to a bloodbath."
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said a military operation in Rafah could "strike a disastrous blow" to agencies struggling to provide aid.
'Open mind'
Al-Qahera News, linked to Egyptian intelligence services, quoted an unnamed high-ranking source as saying "there is significant progress in the negotiations" and that the Egyptian mediators have "reached an agreed-upon formula on most points of contention."
The senior Hamas official told AFP that the movement "looks with an open mind to changes in the occupation's (Israel's) position and the American position, but there are issues that must be addressed."
On Friday, senior Hamas official Hossam Badran had accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the latest proposal with his threats to keep fighting with or without a deal.
He said Netanyahu's insistence on attacking Rafah was calculated to "thwart any possibility of concluding an agreement."
Protesters in Israel have also accused Netanyahu of seeking to prolong the war.
The prime minister, on trial for corruption charges he denies, leads a coalition which includes religious and ultra-nationalist parties.
Demonstrators have regularly taken to Israeli streets, demanding the government reach a deal to bring home the hostages.
In their October 7 attacks, the militants seized hostages, of whom 128 remain in Gaza, including 35 who the military says are dead.
Blinken on Friday also reiterated Washington's objections to a Rafah offensive, saying Israel has not presented a plan to protect the civilians sheltering there.
During the only previous truce, over one week in November, 80 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
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