GAZA STRIP: Negotiations to pause the Israeli aggression against Palestinians and free the prisoners held by Hamas headed into a second day in Cairo on Wednesday, as displaced Gazans braced for an expected Israeli assault on their last refuge of Rafah.

A Hamas source disclosed that a delegation was headed to the Egyptian capital to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with the mediators on Tuesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war, was also landed in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

CIA Director William Burns had joined Tuesday’s talks with David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, which Egyptian media said had been mostly “positive”.

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby described the negotiations as “constructive and moving in the right direction”.

Mediators are racing to secure a pause to the fighting before Israel proceeds with a full-scale ground incursion into the Gaza Strip’s far-southern city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are trapped.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said any military operation “could lead to a slaughter”. The potential for mass civilian casualties has triggered urgent appeals, even from close allies, for Israel to hold off sending troops into the last refuge of Palestinians.

Israeli strikes kill 104 more

As the truce talks go on in Cairo, the Israeli military has kept up its bombardment of Gaza, with strikes on both Rafah and the southern city of Khan Yunis, where there has been heavy fighting.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday that 104 people, mostly civilians, had been killed overnight.

Over the past four months, at least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the latest health ministry figures.

Around 130 of an estimated 250 people detained by Hamas during the attack are believed to remain in Gaza, as Israel claims 29 of them are presumed dead.

On Wednesday, around 100 representatives of the Gaza prisoners flew to The Hague to file a “crimes against humanity” charge against Hamas at the International Criminal Court.

Ahead of the Cairo talks, the Israeli group sent the Mossad chief a plea saying the delegation must “not return without a deal”. When asked by reporters whether he believes the Americans among the prisoners were still alive, National Security Council spokesperson Kirby said: “We don’t have any information to the contrary.”

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2024