A day after Israel announced the withdrawal of all combat troops from southern Gaza, Egyptian officials claimed progress in a fresh round of ceasefire talks in Cairo.
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Both Hamas and Israel sent delegations to Cairo for talks which were also attended by CIA chief Bill Burns and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman.
On Monday, Egypt’s al Qahera TV reported, quoting government sources, that progress has been made in Cairo for hostage release and a ceasefire in Gaza, and parties have agreed to basic points of an agreement.
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Hamas and Qatari officials left Cairo after talks. They will return in two days and so will Israeli and American officials.
Hamas took 253 people hostage in their October 7 attack which killed at least 1,200 Israelis. Of the hostages, 129 are still in captivity. Some of them are believed to be dead. At least 33,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 75,000 injured in Gaza in Isrel’s offensive ever since.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli Defence Forces announced that they are withdrawing all combat troops from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younus, bringing four months of fighting in and around the city to an end.
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Until January, Israel had four-five battalions coming up to some 50,000 soldiers, fighting in Gaza. On Sunday, the IDF said all but one battalion would be withdrawn from the strip. The remaining battalion would guard a security zone Israel has carved across its southern border deep into northern Gaza. This means displaced Palestinians, who have now been cramped into Rafah in the south, cannot move back to the north without Israel’s permission.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that the IDF has made key achievements in Khan Younis which allowed Israel to take flexible decisions. Hamas, according to him, ceased to exist as a functional terrorist entity in Khan Younis.
He added that Israel is at an “opportune moment” for a hostage deal but this will require “difficult decisions”.
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The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under intense domestic pressure over the hostage crisis. On Sunday, at least 50,000 Israelis assembled outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in West Jerusalem, demanding the government to bring the hostages home.
“The IDF’s achievements “enable us to be flexible, to act freely and to make difficult decisions to bring back the abductees. I believe we are at an opportune moment,” the Defence Minister said.
However, Hamas played down reports that the talks had made progress. Hamas has demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the release of Palestinian prisoners for a hostage deal.
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“Regarding the exchange of prisoners, Hamas was and is willing to be more flexible, but there is no flexibility over our...main demands,” a Hamas delegation member who’s attending the Cairo talks, told Reuters.
The IDF, meanwhile, said the withdrawal from southern Gaza does not mean that the war was coming to an end.
“The war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping,” declared Herzi Halevi, the IDF chief of staff, on Sunday,
Mr. Gollant said the withdrawal was to prepare the troops for the next operation.
“The troops are exiting and preparing for their next missions. We saw examples of such missions in the Shifa operation and their coming mission in the Rafah area,” Mr. Gallant said at a meeting with military officials at the IDF’s Southern Command, according to a statement from his office.
“The withdrawal of the troops from Khan Yunis was carried out after Hamas ceased to function as a military organisation in the city, and the forces left to prepare for the operation in Rafah,” he added.
(The correspondent is in Israel on an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel)