Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in this handout picture released on December 18, 2023. Israel Defense Forces
The U.S.
said "very serious" negotiations were taking place on a new Gaza
ceasefire and release of more Israeli hostages, but prospects for a deal
remained uncertain as Hamas insisted it would not discuss anything less than a
complete end to Israel's offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visited Egypt on Wednesday for the first time in more than a month for discussions with Egyptian officials who are seeking to mediate another truce.
A source
briefed on the negotiations said envoys were intensively discussing which of
the hostages still held by Palestinian Islamist militants in Gaza could be
freed in a new truce and which Palestinian prisoners Israel might release in
return.
Islamic
Jihad, a smaller Palestinian militant group that is also holding hostages in
Gaza, said its leader would visit Egypt in coming days as well to discuss a
possible end to the conflict.
"These
are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope that they lead
somewhere," White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters aboard Air
Force One on Wednesday.
But Taher
Al-Nono, Haniyeh's media adviser, told Reuters that Hamas was not willing to
discuss releasing more Israeli hostages until Israel ends its military campaign
in Gaza and the volume of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians increases.
"The
issue of prisoners can be negotiated after these two matters are achieved. We
cannot talk about negotiations while Israel continues its aggression.
Discussing any proposal related to prisoners must occur after the cessation of
aggression," Nono said in an interview in Cairo.
Hamas
rejects any further temporary pause in Israel's military campaign and says it
will discuss only a permanent ceasefire. "We have talked with our brothers
in Egypt, outlining our stance on this aggression and the urgent need to stop
it as a top priority," Nono said.
Israel has
insisted all remaining women and infirm men among the hostages be released, the
source briefed on the negotiations said, declining to be identified.
Palestinians convicted of serious offences could be on the list of prisoners to
be freed by Israel.
BIDEN SAYS
'PUSHING' HOSTAGE DEAL
Now more
than 10 weeks old, Israel launched its campaign in the Gaza Strip with the aim
of annihilating Hamas after its fighters raided Israel on Oct. 7. They took
some 240 hostages and killed 1,200 people, according to Israel.
Since then,
Israel has waged a massive ground and air assault on the seaside enclave.
Nearly 20,000 deaths have been confirmed by the Gazan health ministry, with
several thousand more bodies believed to be trapped under rubble.
International
aid groups say Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven to the brink of
catastrophe by wholesale destruction that has driven 90% of them from their
homes and left many malnourished and gravely short of clean water and medical
care.
U.S.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he did not expect a second Israel-Hamas
hostage release deal to be struck soon, though he added in remarks to
reporters: "We're pushing."
Haniyeh's
visit to Egypt was a rare personal intervention in diplomacy, something he has
done in the past only when progress seemed likely. He last travelled to Egypt
in early November before the announcement of the only ceasefire in the Gaza war
so far, a week-long pause that saw the release of about 110 of Hamas' hostages.
Israel has
not commented publicly on the talks in Egypt. But it has ruled out a permanent
ceasefire and says it will only agree to limited humanitarian pauses until
Hamas is defeated.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated on Wednesday that the war would end
only with Hamas eradicated, all hostages freed and Gaza posing no more threat
to Israel.
"Whoever
thinks we will stop is detached from reality...All Hamas terrorists, from the
first to the last, are dead men walking," he said in a statement on
Wednesday.
The U.S.,
Israel's closest ally, has stepped up calls in the past week for it to scale
down its all-out war into a focused campaign against Hamas leaders and end what
Biden has called "indiscriminate bombing" causing huge civilian
casualties.
In a
serious spillover from the war, Yemen's Houthi forces have been firing missiles
and drones at commercial shipping in the Red Sea to underline support from
Iran's Arab militia proxies for the Palestinians against Israel, and the U.S.
this week set up a multinational force to ward off the attacks.
On
Wednesday, the Houthis' leader warned they would strike U.S. warships if their
forces were targeted by Washington.
The United
Nations Security Council was due to vote on Thursday on a bid to boost aid to
the Gaza Strip after a delay at the request of the U.S., diplomats said.
Aid into
Gaza has gradually increased in recent days after the opening of a second
crossing into the enclave. On Wednesday, Cyprus and Israel said they were
exploring opening a sea route to bring more aid in, though no final agreement
was reached.
Zawya
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