Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories: Israeli negotiators were in Cairo Friday for talks on a Gaza truce, a spokesman said, but a dispute over the presence of Israeli troops on Gaza’s southern border remained among sticking points.
Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea and Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, were in the Egyptian capital and “negotiating to advance a hostage (release) agreement”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Omer Dostri told AFP late on Thursday.
Egypt with fellow mediators Qatar and the United States are trying to reach a deal that would end more than 10 months of war between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas in Gaza.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken visited the region this week to emphasise that time is running out for a deal which “needs to get done in the days ahead”.
Witnesses on Friday reported combat in the territory’s north, heavy shelling in the centre, and tank fire in the far south near Rafah city.
The United Nations said tens of thousands of civilians have been on the move again this week from Deir el-Balah and the southern city of Khan Yunis after Israeli military evacuation orders, which precede military operations.
The war has displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, leaving them deprived of shelter, clean water and other essentials as disease spreads, the UN says.