Netanyahu denies progress on Gaza cease-fire talks despite US claims of nearing agreement

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded Wednesday to comments by US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on a cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu claimed that his government had not received a response from the Palestinian resistance group on a cease-fire and prisoner exchange proposal, despite submitting a “clear proposal” and sending a negotiation team to Cairo last Saturday.

That was after US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told the reporters that “there is a good proposal before both sides, and they need to both accept that proposal so we can get this in place.”

The US believes both sides "need to do a final bit of work" to get to a conclusion, he added.

An Israeli negotiation team left Cairo last Saturday shortly after arriving. According to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the delegation returned to Tel Aviv because of disagreements with Netanyahu, though the nature of the disagreements was not specified.

Neither the Egyptian nor Qatari mediators nor Hamas have commented on the resumption of negotiations, especially following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran last Wednesday.

US President Joe Biden said on May 31 that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange and the reconstruction of Gaza.

All of this comes amid Israel’s devastating offensive against Gaza since an attack by Hamas last October despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 39,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,600 injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul