Gaza ceasefire talks extended as Ramadan deadline approaches

Hamas negotiators stayed in Cairo for a third day of ceasefire talks on Tuesday after two days yielded no breakthrough, as a deadline approached to halt the fighting in time for Ramadan, free Israeli hostages and stave off famine in the Gaza Strip.

The Cairo talks have been billed as a final hurdle to reach a 40-day ceasefire in the war between Hamas and Israel in time for the Ramadan Muslim fasting month, due to begin at the start of next week.

A truce would allow some hostages captured by Palestinian militants in the October attack that precipitated the war to go free, while aid would be ramped up to Gaza and families be able to return to abandoned homes.

“The delegation will remain in Cairo on Tuesday for more talks, they are expected to wrap up this round later today,” a Hamas official told Reuters.

Three security sources from host and mediator Egypt told Reuters the warring sides still wanted a deal but were sticking to demands that had held up an agreement so far. The Egyptians have remained in contact with the Israelis despite the absence of an Israeli delegation in Cairo.

Earlier, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told Reuters the group had presented its proposal for a ceasefire agreement to the mediators, and was now waiting for a response from the Israelis, who have stayed away from this round.

“(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press him for a deal, Naim said.

Israel has declined to comment publicly on the talks in Cairo but a senior Israeli official denied Israel was holding up a deal: “Israel is making every effort to reach an agreement. We are awaiting a response from Hamas.”

A source had told Reuters earlier that Israel was staying away because Hamas had rejected its demand to furnish a list of all hostages who are still alive. Naim said this was impossible without a ceasefire first as hostages were scattered across the war zone and held by separate groups.

Washington, which is both Israel‘s closest ally and a sponsor of the ceasefire talks, has said an Israeli-approved deal is already on the table and it is up to Hamas to accept it. Hamas disputes this account as an attempt to deflect blame from Israel if the talks collapse with no deal.

The United States has also called on Israel to do more to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel‘s assault, launched after Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people in October.

Israel says it is interested only in a temporary truce during which more hostages would be freed. Hamas says it wants any deal to lead to a permanent end to hostilities.

The Egyptian security sources said U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators were seeking to overcome this difference by offering separate guarantees to Hamas of peace talks to end the war.

The sides also need to resolve a Hamas demand for all Gaza residents to be allowed to return to abandoned homes during the truce, as well as Israel‘s demand for the list of hostages, the Egyptian sources said.

HUNGER STALKS GAZA

Famine is now looming over the besieged Gaza Strip as aid supplies, already sharply curtailed since the start of the war, have dwindled to barely a trickle over the past month. Whole swathes of the territory are completely cut off from food. Gaza’s few functioning hospitals, already overwhelmed by the wounded, are now filling with children starving to death.

Ahmed Cannan, a toddler with sunken eyes and an emaciated face, lay on a bed at Al-Awda clinic in Rafah, wrapped in a yellow cardigan. He had lost half his weight since the start of the war and now weighs just 6 kg (13 pounds).

“His situation worsens each day. God protect us from what is coming,” his aunt, Israa Kalakh, told Reuters.

Nurse Diaa Al-Shaer said such emaciated children were now arriving at the clinic in unprecedented numbers: “We will face a large number of patients who suffer from this, which is malnutrition,” she said.

The situation is worst in the north of Gaza, beyond the reach of aid agencies or news cameras. Gaza health authorities say 15 children have now died of malnutrition or dehydration at one hospital.

The U.S. military, in coordination with Jordan, airdropped more than 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday, a programme Washington began last week. Aid agencies say is paltry compared to the scale of the hunger.

Israel says it is prepared to let in more aid to Gaza through the two checkpoints on the southern edge of the territory it has permitted to open, and blames UN and other aid agencies for failing to distribute it more widely.

The aid agencies say this has become impossible with a breakdown of civil administration and law and order, and it is up to Israel, whose troops have stormed Gaza’s towns and patrol them, to provide access and security for food distribution.

“The sense of helplessness and despair among parents and doctors in realising that lifesaving aid, just a few kilometres away, is being kept out of reach, must be unbearable,” said Adele Khodr, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.