Difficult discussions.
The American ambassador to Israel indicated Thursday that negotiations on a truce in the Gaza Strip were not "broken" as the Hamas delegation left Cairo where discussions had been held since Sunday.
“There is no agreement yet.
Everyone is looking towards Ramadan, which is approaching.
I cannot tell you that
(the negotiations)
will be successful but we cannot yet say that they are broken,” assured Jack Lew, during a conference in Tel Aviv.
“The differences are fading,” he said.
Also read: Israel-Hamas war: what is still blocking negotiations on a truce in Gaza?
A senior Hamas official announced Thursday that the delegation of the Palestinian Islamist movement was leaving Cairo where it had arrived on Sunday for discussions with a view to a truce, while "initial responses" from Israel "do not meet minimum requirements » formulated by Hamas.
Faced with the humanitarian disaster and the heavy toll among the civilian population, the United States, Qatar and Egypt are trying to reach an agreement on a pause in the fighting before Ramadan, which begins at the beginning of next week.
Speaking at the same conference as the American ambassador, Gadi Eisenkot, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, affirmed that Hamas was facing "very strong pressure" from mediators to make a "counter-offer."
“It will then be possible to move forward and take a stand,” he said.
Hamas and Israel stick to their positions
Hamas is demanding in particular a definitive ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops before any agreement on the release of hostages still held in Gaza.
Israel, for its part, demands that Hamas provide a precise list of hostages still alive, but the Palestinian movement said it did not know who was “alive or dead” among them.
The war in the Gaza Strip was sparked on October 7 by an attack of unprecedented scale carried out by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, which claimed the lives of at least 1 160 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
VIDEO.
Gaza: several dozen Palestinians killed during humanitarian aid distribution
Around 250 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza during the Hamas attack.
According to the Israeli authorities, 130 are still being held, of whom 31 are believed to have died, after the release of more than a hundred hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners during the November truce.
In retaliation for the Hamas attack, Israel launched a military operation that has so far left 30,800 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.