US, Egyptian, Qatari delegations to meet in Doha to discuss resuming Gaza cease-fire talks

By Ibrahim Al-Khazen

CAIRO (AA) - Officials from the US, Egypt and Qatar are expected to meet in the Qatari capital Doha on Wednesday to discuss ways to resume cease-fire negotiations aimed at ending the Gaza war, Egyptian media reported.

“Egyptian security leaders will meet with their Qatari and American counterparts in Doha on Wednesday to discuss mechanisms to restart cease-fire negotiations,” a high-level Egyptian source told the Cairo News Channel.

Egypt hosted the last round of Gaza negotiations over two days, which ended on May 9 without an announced agreement.

The source confirmed that “the Egyptian security delegation is intensifying its contacts with all concerned parties to push the negotiations forward and achieve a cease-fire in Gaza.”

The identities of the security officials taking part in the Doha meeting have not been specified.

The Axios news website reported that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns would arrive in Doha on Tuesday, while US President Joe Biden's Middle East advisor Brett McGurk will arrive in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel.

On Friday, Biden said that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and nearly 83,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio