Hamas delegation due in Cairo on Saturday to discuss cease-fire: Report

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - A delegation from the Palestinian Hamas group is expected to visit Cairo on Saturday to discuss cease-fire efforts, Egyptian media reported on Friday.

Egypt's state-run Al-Qahera News channel quoted a senior and informed Egyptian source that said Egypt will receive a delegation from Hamas on Saturday to discuss the cease-fire proposal.

The news channel, however, did not provide further details.

Egypt confirmed Monday that there is a new proposal for a truce in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

"There is a proposal on the table to reach a truce in Gaza,” Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said during a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia.

Hamas is estimated to be holding more than 130 Israeli hostages, while Tel Aviv is holding more than 9,100 Palestinians in its jails.

Hamas demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory for any hostage-prisoner swap deal with Tel Aviv.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which killed around 1,200 people.

Tel Aviv, in comparison, has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and wounded nearly 77,800 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the Palestinian territory.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement besides a crippling blockade on food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.