High-ranking Israeli Cabinet members were expected to meet Saturday with a delegation that returned from talks in Paris with negotiators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar in search of a deal on pausing the fighting in Gaza, an Israeli official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, asserted that the Hamas militant group ruling Gaza had relented on some demands, but gave no details.
A senior official from Egypt, which along with Qatar is a mediator between Israel and Hamas, said the draft deal offered to Israel’s delegation included the release of up to 40 women and older hostages held in Gaza in return for up to 300 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, mostly women, minors and older people.
The Egyptian official said the proposed six-week pause in fighting would include allowing hundreds of aid trucks to enter Gaza every day, including the northern half of the besieged territory. He said that both sides agreed to continue negotiations during the pause for further releases and a permanent ceasefire. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations, said that mediators were waiting for Israel’s official response.
Negotiators face an unofficial deadline of the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan around March 10.
Hamas political official Osama Hamdan noted that the group wasn't at the talks, but asserted to reporters in Beirut on Friday that Israel had refused its main demands, including stopping the “aggression” and withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said Saturday that the bodies of 92 Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardments were brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours, raising the overall toll in nearly five months of war to 29,606. The total number of wounded rose to nearly 70,000.
The ministry's death toll doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it has said that two-thirds of those killed were children and women. Israel says its troops have killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters, but hasn't provided details.
An Israeli airstrike hit a house in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, killing at least eight people. including four women and a child, health authorities said. An Associated Press journalist saw the bodies at Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital.
“Enough, enough. Either the Israelis or us should stop. There should be a truce,” said neighbor Abdul-Qader Shubeir, who described feeling lost at not being immediately able to put out the fire burning the bodies.
