Gaza ceasefire talks to continue to bridge gap, says US

FE Team | Published: August 27, 2024 22:16:03

Palestinian boy Abdel Rahman Abu al-Jedian who contracted polio a month ago sleeps surrounded by family members in their displacement tent in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday — AFP

CAIRO, Aug 27 (Reuters): Negotiations in Cairo to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage deal are still pressing ahead, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said, adding that the discussions will continue on the working-group level for the next few days to iron out specific issues.
Speaking to reporters in a virtual briefing, Kirby pushed back on suggestions that the talks have broken down, and said, on the contrary, that they were "constructive".
"The talks actually progressed to a point where they felt like the next logical step was to have working groups at lower levels to sit down to hammer out these finer details," Kirby said.
Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden's top Middle East aide at the White House who has been participating in the talks, will soon leave Cairo after staying an extra day to start the working-group talks, Kirby said.
One of the issues to be tackled by the working groups will be the exchange of hostages Hamas is holding and Palestinian prisoners that Israel is holding, Kirby said.
He said the details to be settled included how many hostages may be exchanged, their identities, and the pace of their potential release.
Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israel's military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant group's Oct 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
The latest round of negotiations came under the threat of a regional escalation. Over the weekend, Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel as Israel's military said it struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to thwart a larger attack.
But Kirby said the cross-border warfare over the weekend has not had an impact on the talks.
Gaza war death
toll at 40,476
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday that at least 40,476 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, now in its 11th month.
The toll includes 41 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 93,647 people as wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.