Egyptians press Gaza truce talks between Israel, Palestinians

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FE Team | Published: August 07, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

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CAIRO, Aug 6, (agencies): Egyptian officials mediating talks for a durable truce in Gaza met a Palestinian delegation Wednesday to relay terms laid down by an Israeli team, Palestinian officials said.
The Egyptian intelligence mediators had met with the Israeli delegation in Cairo during the night, the officials said.
Wednesday's shuttle diplomacy came as a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip after a month of fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces appeared to be holding for a second day.
Egyptian mediators meet Palestinians to relay Israeli terms, Palestinians demand Gaza airport.
Palestinian officials in Cairo said they would respond to the Israeli terms through the Egyptian officials, although a senior Hamas official has already rejected an Israeli demand that militants in Gaza disarm.
Meanwhile international Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair and UN Middle East peace process coordinator Robert Serry were scheduled to hold talks with Egyptian officials later Wednesday.
The Egyptian-mediated 72-hour ceasefire that went into effect on Tuesday has brought relief to both sides after fighting that erupted on July 8 killed 1,875 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side.
The talks in Cairo are aimed at securing a durable ceasefire after the three-day window closes.
Experts say the underlying problems in Gaza, a small coastal enclave flanked by Israel and Egypt that has undergone three conflicts with Israel since 2008, would also have to be addressed.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, in a BBC interview, called for a sustained ceasefire but stressed that the crucial wider issues would need to be tackled.
The Palestinians demand an end to the eight-year Israeli blockade of Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
They are also demanding an airport be allowed to operate in Gaza, senior Hamas official and delegation member Ezzat al-Rishq said.
Israel, for its part, wants Hamas, which won Palestinian elections in 2006 although designated a terrorist group by the United States and Israel, to disarm its militia.
Rishq said Hamas would not even consider laying down their weapons, which include an arsenal of unguided rockets and anti-tank missiles.
Meanwhile: Hamas may have haemorrhaged rockets and fighters, but its latest war with Israel has boosted its popularity in the Gaza Strip even if long-term gains look remote, analysts say.
A 72-hour truce entered its second day on Wednesday, a lull in four weeks of bitter fighting which killed more than 1,860 Palestinians, of whom the UN says at least 1,312 were civilians.
Israel lost three civilians-one of them a Thai agricultural worker-and 64 soldiers, a staggering number for an offensive in Gaza and its worst loss since the 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah.
The conflict followed a period of protracted isolation for Hamas, whose rule in Gaza has been choked by an eight-year Israeli blockade and withering ties with Cairo since the Egyptian army deposed its Islamist ally, president Mohamed Morsi.
Founded in 1987, Hamas won elections in 2006 in Gaza before taking power in the enclave a year later, and is classified by the EU and the US as a "terrorist" group.