Gaza Cease-Fire Talks Fail to Achieve a Breakthrough With Ramadan Just Days Away, Egypt Says

Three days of negotiations with Hamas over a ceasefire in Gaza have failed to achieve a breakthrough, less than a week before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – the informal deadline for a deal.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker an agreement in which Hamas would release Israeli captives in return for a six-week cease fire, the release of some Palestinian prisoners and more aid to Gaza.

“We must get more aid into Gaza,” U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday. “There’s no excuse. None.”

Aid groups have said it has become nearly impossible to deliver supplies within most of Gaza because of the difficulty of coordinating with the Israeli military, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

Two Egyptian officials said that the latest round of discussions ended on Tuesday. They said Hamas presented a proposal that mediators would discuss with Israel in the coming days. One of the officials said that mediators would meet Wednesday with the Hamas delegation, which didn’t leave Cairo.

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Hamas has refused to release all of the estimated 100 hostages it holds, and the remains of around 30 more, unless Israel ends its offensive, withdraws from Gaza and releases a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including senior militants serving life sentences.

U.S. officials have said that they are skeptical that Hamas actually wants a deal, because the group has balked at a number of what the U.S. and others believe are legitimate requests, including giving the names of hostages to be released.

“It is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

“We have an opportunity for an immediate cease-fire that can bring hostages home, that can dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian aid getting in to Palestinians who so desperately need it, and can set the conditions for an enduring resolution,” Blinken said.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said Tuesday that his group demands a permanent cease-fire, rather than a six-week pause, and a “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces.

“The security and safety of our people will be achieved only by a permanent cease-fire, the end of the aggression and the withdrawal from every inch of the Gaza Strip,” Hamdan told reporters in Beirut.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected Hamas’ demands and repeatedly vowed to continue the war until Hamas is dismantled and all the hostages are returned. Israel didn’t send a delegation to the latest round of talks.

Israel was still waiting for Hamas to hand over a list of hostages who are alive as well as the hostage-to-prisoner ratio it seeks in any release deal, an Israeli official said. It wasn’t clear if that information was included in the latest proposal.

Meanwhile, Israel wants Hamas to hand over a list of captives who are alive, as well as the captive-to-prisoner ratio it seeks in any release deal.

Senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim told the AFP news agency on Monday that the group did not know “who among [the captives] are alive or dead, killed because of strikes or hunger”, and that the captives were being held by numerous groups in multiple places.

“So there are two completely different perspectives and two different sticking points here on what the other side is not willing to compromise on,” Salhut said.

At US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue talks on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept the ceasefire plan.

“It is on Hamas to make decisions about whether it is prepared to engage in that ceasefire,” the top US diplomat said as he met Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Washington, DC, in the US.

“Qatar, the United States and our partners will be always persistent to make sure that this deal happens,” said Al Thani, standing next to Blinken.

With the latest round of discussions having come to an end, Hamas has presented a proposal that mediators will discuss with Israel in the coming days, two Egyptian officials said, according to The Associated Press news agency.

At least 1,139 people were killed and about 250 captives were taken in Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7. More than 100 captives were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has killed more than 30,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The nearly five months of fighting have left much of Gaza in ruins and created a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, with many, especially in the devastated northern region, scrambling for food to survive.