At a time when hopes are being placed on the talks taking place in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, between the Palestinian Hamas movement and mediators, with the aim of reaching a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, there are conflicting reports about their fate, as Reuters reported, on Tuesday, that they “ended without a breakthrough.” While a high-ranking Egyptian source confirmed that it is “ongoing.”
Hamas leader Basem Naim told Reuters that the movement “presented its proposal for a ceasefire agreement to the mediators during two days of talks, and is now awaiting a response from the Israelis, who were absent from this round.”
The leader of the movement classified as terrorist in the United States and other countries considered that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “does not want an agreement,” adding that “the ball is in the Americans’ court” to pressure him to reach an agreement.
Israel refrains from commenting publicly on the Cairo talks.
A source told Reuters earlier that Israel had boycotted the talks; Because Hamas “rejected its request to provide a list of the names of all hostages who are still alive.”
Naeem explained that this is “impossible” without a ceasefire first, given that the hostages are “distributed throughout the war zone, and are being held by different factions.”
Later, on Tuesday, Reuters quoted a Hamas leader as saying that the movement’s negotiators “will remain in Cairo for a third day, to hold further talks aimed at a ceasefire.”
For its part, Egyptian media reported on Tuesday that the Cairo talks aimed at reaching a truce in Gaza “are still ongoing.”
A high-ranking security source confirmed to the Cairo News channel, which is close to Egyptian intelligence, that “the Cairo discussions are continuing, and there is no truth to the fact that an agreement has not been reached yet.”
The source indicated that there are “difficulties facing the discussions, but they are still continuing.”
On Monday, Egyptian security sources said that they were still in contact with the Israelis, allowing negotiations to proceed without the participation of an Israeli delegation.
There were hopes that the Cairo talks would be the last stop before reaching the first long-term ceasefire in the war, a 40-day truce, during which dozens of hostages would be released and aid would be pumped into Gaza to prevent famine, before the month of Ramadan.
Washington, Israel’s closest ally and one of the sponsors of the ceasefire talks, says that an agreement accepted by Israel is already on the table, and that it is up to Hamas to accept it. Hamas rejects these statements and sees them as an attempt to “shift the blame” away from Israel if the talks collapse without reaching an agreement.
The United States also calls on Israel to make more efforts to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where more than 30,000 people were killed in the Israeli attack that was sparked by a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, which Israel says resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people. .
Hunger lurks in the Gaza Strip
While there are conflicting reports regarding the Cairo talks, hunger is currently gripping the besieged Gaza Strip, where aid supplies have diminished severely over the past month, after having already declined sharply since the beginning of the war.
Entire areas of the Strip have become completely deprived of food. The few hospitals still functioning in Gaza, already crowded with war casualties, are now filled with children starving to death.
The child, Ahmed Kanaan, is lying with his eyes sunken and his face pale, on a bed in Al Awda Hospital in Rafah, wearing a yellow jacket. The child has lost half his weight since the beginning of the war and now weighs only 6 kilograms.
His aunt, Israa Kalakh, told Reuters: “His condition is getting worse. May God protect us from what is coming.”
A nurse also said, “Empty children are now flocking to the hospital in unprecedented numbers,” and added, “We are facing a large number of patients suffering from malnutrition.”
The situation in northern Gaza is the worst, as neither aid agencies nor media cameras can reach it. Health authorities in Gaza say that 15 children died of malnutrition or dehydration in a hospital.
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that malnutrition is “particularly worsening” in the northern Gaza Strip.
The organization’s representative in Gaza and the West Bank, Richard Peppercorn, said that “one in every 6 children under the age of two suffers from acute malnutrition there.” “This was in January,” he explained. “So it would probably be worse today.”
Israel says it is prepared to allow more aid into Gaza through two checkpoints on the southern end of the Strip that it has allowed to open, and blames the United Nations and other relief agencies for not distributing aid more widely.
Relief agencies say this has become impossible with the collapse of law and order, and that allowing food entry and securing its distribution falls on Israel, whose forces have invaded Gaza towns and are patrolling them.
Adele Khader, Regional Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “The feeling of helplessness and despair among parents and doctors, who realize that life-saving aid is being prevented and is only a few kilometers away, is unbearable.” .