UPDATE - Hamas delegation due in Cairo Saturday to discuss cease-fire

UPDATES WITH HAMAS' CONFIRMATION THAT DELEGATION WILL GO TO CAIRO

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) — Palestinian group Hamas confirmed that it would be sending a delegation to Cairo on Saturday to complete talks on a proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza, pummeled for months by ongoing Israeli attacks.

"We in the Hamas Movement and the Palestinian resistance are determined to complete the agreement," the group said in a statement on Friday.

It added in the statement that it would be going to Cairo in "a positive spirit" to reach an agreement.

This came after Egypt's state-run Al-Qahera News broadcaster quoted a senior informed Egyptian source that said Cairo would receive a Hamas delegation on Saturday to discuss the cease-fire proposal.

Egypt had confirmed on Monday that there was 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.