Mediating delegations from Egypt, Qatar and the United States have postponed “until further notice” the round of negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which was scheduled to begin this Wednesday (21) in Cairo with the participation of Israel, a source close to the negotiations told EFE.
According to the same source, “the talks have been postponed to an unspecified date,” adding that the negotiating teams from the US, Qatar and Israel are not in the Egyptian capital.
He did not elaborate on the reasons for the decision, which comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Doha earlier today, the last stop of his ninth visit to the Middle East, which took him to Israel, Egypt and Qatar to pressure the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to accept the mediators’ proposal made last week in the Qatari capital.
Before leaving Doha, Blinken said he would do “everything possible” to get the Palestinian group Hamas to accept the latest ceasefire project that, according to the American, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already accepted.
The delay in this new round of negotiations comes at a time of heightened tension, as negotiations have stalled due to new Israeli demands, which Hamas rejects, although the mediating parties have insisted that they are moving forward to close existing gaps and achieve a truce in the conflict.
According to the latest proposal, revealed to EFE by a Hamas source, Israel would maintain a “reduced presence” in the Philadelphia corridor – which connects Egypt to Gaza – and would not withdraw from that location or from Netzarim, which divides the Palestinian enclave in two.
With these new demands, Israel wants to prevent the terrorist group from replenishing its weapons arsenal through smuggling tunnels and prevent Hamas fighters from returning to northern Gaza, the same source told EFE.
The agreement also does not clearly address a permanent ceasefire in the Strip, a demand of the terrorist group.
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