An Israeli negotiating team landed in Cairo on Sunday afternoon to participate in high-level Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks led by US CIA Director William Burns.
The Israeli delegation is led by the heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), David Barnea and Ronen Bar, as well
Major-Get (res) Nitzan Alon. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed al-Thani is also expected to participate.
The high-level summit follows a week of preparatory work in Cairo and Doha, as well as a high-level summit in Qatar two weeks ago,
It also comes in the aftermath of an Israeli pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon to foil an attack by that Iranian proxy group against central Israel.
A Hamas-led delegation is in Cairo, but it is not expected to directly participate in the talks.
At issue is the fate of 109 remaining hostages, of which 105 were seized on October 7. Most of them have been in Gaza for a decade or slightly less. It’s estimated that 73 of the captives are still alive.
The proposed deal
The proposal on the table, which US President Joe Biden first unveiled on May 31. It was endorsed by the UN Security Council in June, and both Israel and Hamas have agreed to it in principle, with Hamas referencing a July 2nd draft.
The three-phase deal would see the release of some 18-33 humanitarian hostages in the first phase.
Deep disagreements remain between the two sides, and a bridging proposal put forward by the US two weeks ago has not yet been accepted by Hamas.
Among the significant sticking options has been Israel’s insistence that it must maintain an IDF presence in a critical buffer zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor. Hamas, in turn, has insisted on a full IDF withdrawal as part of the deal.
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