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Palestinian and Israeli delegations are expected to return to Egypt this week to discuss details of a deal outlined by US President Joe Biden to end the war in Gaza, sources told The National on Tuesday.
The talks will focus on plans for the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the technical details of the Israeli army's forces in the enclave, the names of Palestinian detainees to be released, and the future governance of Gaza.
On Monday, the US said it was seeking support from the UN Security Council for the proposed ceasefire.
It sent a draft resolution stressing “the importance of the parties adhering to the terms of the deal once agreed, with the aim of bringing about a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Reuters reported.
The three-phase plan announced by Mr Biden on May 31 would involve a “complete ceasefire” and an increase in aid to Gaza, with the release of some of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the first phase.
The second phase proposes a “permanent end to hostilities” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with the rest of the hostages released, while the final phase brings in the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the remaining hostages to their families.
Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages are dead, a government tally showed on Tuesday.
“A top Israeli delegation made up of the Mossad, its domestic security sister, and the army is expected in Cairo later this week,” said one of the sources.
The delegation is expected to bring Israel's response to a joint plan by the Palestinian Authority and Egypt for the Rafah border crossing, currently under Israeli control, and the technical details of the redeployment of forces in the first phase before the full withdrawal.
Rafah and detainees
In the meantime, a Hamas-led delegation of Palestinian factions “is also expected in Egypt later this week to discuss the lists of names of prisoners they want Israel to release and the future governance of Gaza,” said the source.
The implementation of the deal will be preceded by 48 hours during which the warring parties will stand down major combat operations.
The idea is for the two parties to be reassured of the other's readiness to commit to a ceasefire, the sources said.
“Egypt and the PA are already in contact to come up with a formula for running the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing that would be acceptable to Israel before it pulls out from the Gaza side of the facility,” said one source, adding that Egypt wants this issue sorted out before the first phase of the plan begins.
According to the sources, Mr Biden wants his plan “to be enforced by next week”, but “a great deal of distrust and suspicion” between the warring sides is hindering the process.
The proposal, which Mr Biden described as an “Israeli proposal”, has widened the rift among members of Israel's war cabinet as it waits for a Hamas response.
Centrist politicians Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot have spent recent weeks amplifying calls for elections and threats to abandon the administration, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not setting clear objectives for the war and abandoning Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have threatened to bring down the government if Mr Netanyahu pursues anything other than a full-throttle war effort in Gaza, despite mounting international concern over the humanitarian toll.
There is also growing uncertainty among the Israel public that total victory over Hamas is possible.
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Palestinians move with their belongings on a road lined with destroyed buildings, in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 22. AFP -
An infant saved from the womb of her mother Sabreen Al Sheikh, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shokri and her daughter Malak, lies in an incubator at Al Emirati hospital in Rafah, on April 21. Reuters -
A man rides a bicycle, on April 2, past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen non-profit, including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli air strike. Reuters -
A woman at the damaged Al Shifa Hospital, on April 1, after Israeli forces withdrew from the medical complex following a two-week siege. Reuters -
The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National -
Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters -
A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters -
Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, reunite with loved ones at Sheba Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in February. Reuters -
Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA -
Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images -
Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo -
Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo -
The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP -
A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP -
The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo -
A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP -
Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP -
Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP -
November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP -
Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo -
Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo -
An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo -
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo
