An elderly woman rests in front of a destroyed building while collecting tree branches for a fire in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, after Israeli bombardments on the camp ceased on Nov. 29, 2024. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)
A Hamas delegation is scheduled to travel to Cairo on Saturday for discussions aimed at reaching a truce in the Gaza Strip after nearly 14 months of war, a senior Palestinian Islamist movement official said Friday evening.
"A Hamas delegation will head to Cairo tomorrow for several meetings with Egyptian officials to discuss ideas for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange agreement in the Gaza Strip," a Hamas official told AFP on condition of anonymity. This announcement comes less than 48 hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, took effect in Lebanon.
On Wednesday, the White House announced a renewed U.S. diplomatic effort to broker a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, with assistance from Turkey, Qatar and Egypt. The conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, following a surprise attack by Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The total includes hostages killed or who died in captivity in Gaza.
During the attack, 251 individuals were abducted on Israeli soil. Of these, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, with 34 declared dead by the Israeli military. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed 44,330 people in Gaza, primarily civilians, according to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, which are deemed reliable by the U.N.
The only truce in this conflict, brokered in November 2023, facilitated the return of over 100 hostages from Gaza in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Since the beginning of this year, Washington, Doha and Cairo have intensified efforts to negotiate a new ceasefire and hostage release agreement, though these efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
