Cairo: A Hamas delegation will leave for Cairo on Monday, a Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday as he sought to broker a deal before launching an attack on the southern Israeli city of Rafah.
The official, who asked not to be named, said the delegation would discuss Hamas’ peace deal with Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel’s response.
He did not disclose details of the latest proposal.
The war, now in its seventh month, was sparked by an October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which killed 1,200 people and injured 253 others.
Israel says it will eliminate Hamas, which rules Gaza, in a military operation that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza health officials.
On Friday, a senior Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, said the group was receiving feedback on Israel’s peace proposal and was studying Egyptian and Qatari mediators before responding.
Before the negotiations, the two sides failed to bridge the gap in their positions. Hamas wants a permanent end to the war and an agreement to withdraw Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
Israel has offered a temporary ceasefire to free about 130 hostages and provide more humanitarian aid. He said he will not stop working until he achieves his goal of eliminating Hamas.
Israel’s foreign minister said on Saturday that a planned invasion of Rafah, home to more than a million displaced Palestinians, could lead to a deal to free Israeli hostages.
This issue has caused problems in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. Minister Hawkish demanded the Rafah attack, the central partner said the priority peace deal.
On Sunday, ultra-nationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Netanyahu not to back down from the Rafah attack, saying agreeing to a peace offer would be a humiliating defeat.
“The government under your leadership will not have the right to live,” said Smotrich, who is not a member of the war cabinet, in a video statement sent to Netanyahu without bashing Hamas.
Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli Ministry of War, wrote in column X: “In the long war against Hamas, access to Rafah is important. The return of refugees is urgent and even more important.”
