Egypt contacts active parties to resume Gaza ceasefire talks: Qatari paper

CAIRO – 23 May 2024: Egypt is working to resume the Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel, Egyptian officials told the Arabic-language newspaper of the New Arab on Thursday.

“Officials in Cairo have begun a series of contacts with active parties to resume negotiations aiming to reach a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement,” the sources said.

The Egyptian sources also revealed that Israeli technical delegations visit Cairo weekly to discuss files related to security agreements between Egypt and Israel, and to present demands related to Egyptian cooperation to restart the Rafah crossing.

The sources added that the Israeli delegations are also discussing Egyptian perceptions of the current situation, pointing out that “the recent discussions between the Israeli delegations and Cairo officials largely tackled the aspect of the Egyptian mediation."

In comments to the CNN, Israeli officials accused Egypt of making changes to the outcomes of the latest round of indirect talks between Hamas and Israel.

Head of Egypt's State Information Service [SIS] Diaa Rashwan said CNN's allegations violate all professional rules and described them as “false and baseless.” “We contacted the management of the CNN website outside Egypt to respond to the allegations, and the website published our remarks shortly after,” he added.

Rashwan said that attempts to question Egypt’s mediation role may push it to withdraw from the current mediation process, al Qahera news channel reported

Rashwan indicated that attempts to cast doubt or insult Egypt’s role will only lead to further complicating the situation in the Gaza Strip and the entire region.

Rashwan expressed Egypt's astonishment at the attempts of some parties to insult the enormous efforts it has made - and is still making - over the past months to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and prevent the killing and injury of hundreds of innocent civilians daily and the systematic destruction of all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces have not stopped shelling the Palestinian civilians in the whole besieged Gaza Strip, and launched a military ground operation against the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin in the West Bank, where they 11 Palestinians, including 4 children.

In Gaza, Israel has killed 35,709 Palestinians and injured 79,990 others since the 7th of last October.