Cease-fire talks to resume in Cairo as Rafah offensive looms

Cease-fire talks to resume in Cairo as Rafah offensive looms

Cease-fire talks are poised to continue Sunday against the tense backdrop of a looming Israeli offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah and worsening humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas officials, in Cairo on Saturday for the latest round of talks, expressed hope that a deal could be reached to pause fighting, after months of on-and-off-again negotiations.

“We hope it will be fruitful,” Hamas official Basem Naim said of the latest talks.

The current proposal centers on an initial 40-day cease-fire, during which Israeli troops would suspend combat operations and withdraw from populated areas. Hamas would begin releasing hostages and Israel would free some Palestinian prisoners in return.

Hamas has long been pushing for a more permanent cease-fire. Israel has resisted previous demands to pull out its forces and end the war, saying it must invade Rafah to destroy Hamas’s remaining battalions there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week reiterated Israel’s position that its forces will launch a military operation in Rafah regardless of whether a cease-fire and hostage deal is reached with Hamas.

CIA Director William J. Burns is among those in Cairo for the negotiations, a U.S. official told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Some U.S. officials view the latest talks as the “last chance” to avoid an intensification of fighting.

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Israel’s Defense Ministry briefed more than 10 humanitarian groups last week to discuss the planned operation in Rafah, according to representatives from three international aid agencies, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the briefing. More than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering there after fleeing conflict elsewhere in the enclave.

Northern Gaza is already experiencing a “full-blown famine” that is “moving its way south,” Cindy McCain, executive director of the United Nations’ World Food Program, said in an interview with NBC News that is scheduled to air Sunday. The United Nations has been saying since mid-March that a famine is “imminent” in Gaza but has not yet made an official declaration.

At least 34,654 people have been killed and 77,908 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 263 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.