Cairo, talks continue for a possible ceasefire and exchange of hostages

2023-12-24 21:41:14, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Islamic Jihad group is participating in the talks in Cairo, a sign that diplomacy still has an impact. The arrival in Cairo of a delegation led by exiled leader Ziad al-Nakhlala follows talks in recent days in which Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh participated. Islamic Jihad, though smaller than Hamas, is also holding hostages in Gaza.

So far, the militant groups have said they will not discuss releasing the hostages unless Israel ends the war in Gaza, while the Israelis say they are only willing to discuss a temporary pause in the fighting.

However, neither side has publicly walked away from the talks, which Washington described last week as "very serious", even as fighting has intensified across the Gaza Strip since a ceasefire collapsed in early December.

The Cairo talks will focus on "ways to end Israeli aggression against our people," an Islamic Jihad official said. The delegation will reaffirm the group's position that any hostage exchange would have to secure the release of all Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, "once a ceasefire is reached," the official said.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, vowed to destroy Israel, are believed to still be holding more than 100 hostages out of the 240 they kidnapped during the October 7 attack on Israeli cities, in which the militants killed 1,200 people.

Israel responded by encircling the Gaza Strip and has destroyed much of it, with more than 20,400 confirmed dead and thousands more believed dead under the rubble, according to authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza. The figures have not been independently confirmed.

The vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been forced to flee their homes, while the United Nations says conditions are catastrophic.

After the collapse of a week-long ceasefire at the beginning of the month, fighting has intensified on the ground, with the war spreading from the north of the Gaza Strip to the entire length of the region./ VOA