Gaza ceasefire talks extended as Ramadan deadline approaches

CAIRO: Hamas negotiators stayed in Cairo for a third day of ceasefire talks on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the fighting in the Gaza Strip in time for Holy month of Ramadan.

A 40-day ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel would allow some hostages captured by Palestinian group in the October attack, while aid to Gaza would be increased and families able to return to abandoned homes.

Ramadan begins at the start of next week.

“The delegation will remain in Cairo on Tuesday for more talks, they are expected to wrap up this round later today,” a Hamas official told Reuters.

Three security sources from host and mediator Egypt said told Reuters the warring sides were sticking to demands that had held up an agreement. The Egyptians have remained in contact with the Israelis despite the absence of an Israeli delegation.

Earlier, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the group had presented a draft ceasefire agreement, and was now waiting for a response from Israel.

“(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press him, Naim said.

Israel has declined to comment publicly on the talks but a senior Israeli official said: “Israel is making every effort to reach an agreement. We are awaiting a response from Hamas.”

A source had told Reuters earlier that Israel was staying away because Hamas had refused to furnish a list of all hostages who are still alive. Naim said this was impossible without a ceasefire as hostages were scattered across the war zone and held by separate groups.

Washington, both Israel’s closest ally and a sponsor of the ceasefire talks, has said an Israeli-approved deal is already on the table and it is up to Hamas to accept it. Hamas disputes this account as an attempt to deflect blame from Israel if the talks collapse.

The United States has also urged Israel to do more to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s assault.

“Israel has to maximize every possible means … of getting assistance to people who need it,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

“That requires more aid getting in. And once that aid is in, it requires making sure it can get to the people who need it. So we will continue to press that every single day, because the situation as it stands is simply unacceptable.”

Israel says it is interested only in a temporary truce during which more hostages would be freed. Hamas says it wants any deal to lead to a permanent end to hostilities.

The Egyptian security sources said U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators were addressing this difference by offering separate guarantees to Hamas of peace talks to end the war.

The sides also need to resolve a Hamas demand for all Gaza’s residents to be allowed to return to abandoned homes during the truce, as well as Israel’s demand for the list of hostages, the Egyptian sources said.

Hunger stalks Gaza

Famine is now looming over the Gaza Strip as aid supplies, already sharply curtailed since the start of the war, have dwindled to barely a trickle over the past month. Swathes of the territory are completely cut off from food. Gaza’s few functioning hospitals, already overwhelmed by the wounded, are now filling with children starving to death.

Ahmed Cannan, a toddler with sunken eyes and an emaciated face, lay on a bed at Al-Awda clinic in Rafah, wrapped in a yellow cardigan. He had lost half his weight since the start of the war and now weighs just 6 kg (13 pounds).

“His situation worsens each day. God protect us from what is coming,” said his aunt, Israa Kalakh.

Nurse Diaa Al-Shaer said such emaciated children were now arriving at the clinic in unprecedented numbers: “We will face a large number of patients who suffer from this, which is malnutrition.”

The situation is worst in the north of Gaza, beyond the reach of aid agencies or news cameras. Gaza health authorities say 15 children have now died of malnutrition or dehydration at one hospital.

The U.S. military, in coordination with Jordan, airdropped 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday, a programme Washington began last week. Aid agencies say this is paltry compared to the scale of the hunger.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, U.S. President Joe Biden said: “The United States is committed to pulling out every stop to get more aid to those in Gaza who desperately need it. We won’t stand by. We won’t let up.”

Israel says it is prepared to let in more aid through the two checkpoints on the southern edge of Gaza that it has permitted to open, and blames U.N. and other aid agencies for failing to distribute it more widely.

The agencies say this has become impossible with a breakdown of civil administration and law and order, and it is up to Israel, whose troops have stormed Gaza’s towns and patrol them, to provide access and security for food distribution.

“The sense of helplessness and despair among parents and doctors in realising that lifesaving aid, just a few kilometres away, is being kept out of reach must be unbearable,” said Adele Khodr, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.