WASHINGTON/GAZA STRIP: Talks in Cairo on reaching a Gaza truce have made progress, the White House said on Friday, as it urged Israel and Hamas to move forward. The White House confirmed that CIA chief William Burns and senior official Brett McGurk were taking part in discussions which started at a preliminary level on Thursday.
"There has been progress made. We need now for both sides to come together and work towards implementation," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "The preliminary talks that we had going into Cairo last night were constructive in nature. So we want to see that same sort of momentum continue here over the next couple of days," he said.
Kirby said that reports that the diplomacy was "near collapse" were inaccurate. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Middle East this week and said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was onboard with a US proposal to bridge gaps and reach a ceasefire in the more than 10-month conflict.
Kirby said that the United States continued to believe that Netanyahu accepted the proposal, even though the right-wing leader has insisted on Israeli troops staying on the Gaza-Egypt border.
Kirby appealed again to Hamas to accept the proposal, which was laid out last week in talks in the Qatari capital Doha. "Think about what this deal will do for the people of Gaza. It gets them a period of calm and a potential end of the war and the violence and the bloodshed," Kirby said. "It also gets them, because of the stop in the fighting, an incredible opportunity for all of us -- and I mean all of us, including the United States -- to dramatically increase the humanitarian assistance that's getting in," he said.
HAMAS SLAMS ISRAEL
A Hamas official on Friday accused Israel's prime minister of refusing to agree to a final truce accord for Gaza, where the presence of Israeli troops on the Egyptian border remained a major sticking point. An Israeli team was in Cairo "negotiating to advance a hostage (release) agreement", Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman Omer Dostri said.
But Hamas representatives were not taking part and an official from the movement, Hossam Badran, said on Friday that Netanyahu's insistence that troops remain on the Philadelphi border strip reflects "his refusal to reach a final agreement". Top US diplomat Antony Blinken visited the region this week to emphasise the urgency of an agreement.
Witnesses on Friday reported combat in the territory's north, heavy shelling in the centre, and tank fire in the far south near Rafah city. The United Nations said tens of thousands of civilians have been on the move again this week from Deir Al Balah and the southern city of Khan Yunis after Israeli military evacuation orders, which precede military operations.
The war has displaced about 90 per cent of Gaza's s population, often multiple times, leaving them deprived of shelter, clean water and other essentials as disease spreads, the UN says.
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