CAIRO (AFP) – Talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have made “significant progress”, Egyptian outlet Al-Qahera reported Monday.
The state-linked outlet reported “significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement”, citing a high-ranking Egyptian source.
Egypt, Qatar and key Israeli ally the United States have mediated previous rounds of negotiations, but a workable agreement to end the six-month war has remained elusive.
Al-Qahera reported that Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return “within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement”.
US and Israeli delegations were due to leave the Egyptian capital “in the next few hours” and consultations were expected to continue over the next 48 hours, the outlet added.
Israel’s relentless offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Israel has faced growing global opposition to the war, with the outcry intensifying following an Israeli drone strike that killed seven aid workers — most of them Westerners — for the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen on April 1.
