Palestinians gather in a street as humanitarian aid is dropped into Gaza City, Mar. 1, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
A Hamas delegation was expected to fly to Cairo Saturday for new talks on a Gaza ceasefire, as a US official said that "the ball is in Hamas' [court]" to take it into effect.
A source close to the Palestinian militant group said the delegation would deliver its "official answer" to a proposal thrashed out with Israeli negotiators in Paris late last month.
Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas negotiators, trying to secure a pause in the war before the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which begins on Mar. 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar.
The mediators "will resume negotiations for a Gaza truce in Cairo on Sunday," Egypt's AlQahera News reported.
Both Washington and Doha had voiced hope a ceasefire could go into effect as early as next week. Still, US President Joe Biden said Thursday that a deal would take longer after more than 100 Palestinian civilians were killed rushing an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip.
A Hamas source told AFP earlier this week that under the proposal, a truce would last for six weeks, with Hamas releasing 42 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
On Thursday, the White House said the hostage release "would result in an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks."
A senior US official said on Saturday that Israel had broadly accepted the plan and it was now up to Hamas to agree to release hostages for the deal to take effect.
"There's a framework deal. The Israelis have more or less accepted it," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "Right now, the ball is in the [court] of Hamas."
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 30,320 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The only previous truce in the war lasted for one week in late November. It saw the release of more than 100 hostages, the Israelis among them in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
In addition to halting Israel's offensive, Hamas wants new truce terms to ensure immediate humanitarian relief for Gazans, an Israeli withdrawal and the return of Gazans displaced from the north, said the source close to the group.
A source close to the Palestinian militant group said the delegation would deliver its "official answer" to a proposal thrashed out with Israeli negotiators in Paris late last...