Negotiations Over Gaza's Conflict Of Arms In Cairo Haven't Reached An Agreement

Israeli military land operations in Gaza. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - No agreement has been reached until Sunday evening, when Israel and Hamas did not agree to some compromise in negotiations on the ceasefire of the Gaza conflict that was held in Cairo, two Egyptian security sources said.

The months-long negotiations failed to produce an agreement to end Israel's devastating military campaign in Gaza, as well as free the remaining hostages left by Hamas in the militant group's attack on October 7 against Israel that sparked the war.

Speaking at a news conference in Halifax, Canada, United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington was still "working hard" in Cairo with Egyptian and Qatar and Israeli mediators to secure a ceasefire and a hostage-taking deal.

The main critical points in ongoing negotiations mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar include the presence of Israel in the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, a span of 14.5 km (9 miles) of narrow land along Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

The mediators proposed a number of alternatives to the presence of Israeli troops in the Philadelphi Corridor and the Netzarim Corridor that crossed the central part of the Gaza Strip, but nothing was received by the parties, Egyptian sources said.

Israel also expressed objections to some of the Palestinian prisoners Hamas demanded to be released, Israel also demanded that they leave Gaza if they are released, the sources added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militant group Hamas said Israel had withdrawn its commitment to withdraw troops from the Corridor and put forward other new requirements, including screening of displaced Palestinians as they returned to more populous northern territory when the ceasefire began.

"We will not accept any discussion about the recall from what we agreed on July 2 or new requirements," Hamas Osama Hamdan official told Al-Aqsa TV on Sunday.

Last July, Hamas accepted US proposals to start negotiations on the release of Israeli hostages, including soldiers and people, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, senior Hamas sources told Reuters.

Hamdan also said Hamas had submitted its response to the mediators on the latest proposal, saying US talks about an imminent deal were wrong.

The Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after holding talks with mediators, senior official Izzat El-Reshiq said, adding the group had reaffirmed its demands that every agreement must establish a permanent ceasefire and Israel's full withdrawal from Gaza.