CAIRO (Reuters) – Talks on ending the Gaza conflict have made progress on the issues of hostage releases and withdrawal of Israeli forces, but security arrangements and ceasefire guarantees are still being worked on, two Egyptian security sources said on Thursday.
Long-running negotiations involving Israeli, U.S., Egyptian and Qatari officials about a proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza as well as talks on security arrangements on the Egypt-Gaza border have shifted from Cairo to Doha and back to Cairo this week.
An Israeli delegation was due to join the talks between Egyptian and U.S. delegations in Egypt’s capital on Thursday.
The Egyptian sources said the discussions sought to build on points previously agreed to by Hamas. The Palestinian militant group said in a statement that mediators had not yet provided them with updates.
The Egyptian sources said there had been agreement on preparations to free Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, as well as on the pullback of Israeli forces from residential areas of southern Gaza during the first six-week phase of a proposed deal. There was also agreement on a mechanism for administering Gaza after the war, they said.
However, differences remained over security arrangements at crossings into the Gaza Strip and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, the sources added.
Demands by Hamas for written guarantees that a deal would lead to a lasting ceasefire were being worked on, they said.
(Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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