Hamas said Thursday its delegation negotiating a proposed six-week cease-fire and hostage release in the Gaza war with Israel has left Cairo, but that talks would resume next week.
The hiatus in the Hamas-Israeli talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar makes it extremely unlikely that mediators would reach a deal before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will push on with its war against Hamas militants despite growing international pressure, including from its chief ally, the United States, for a halt in the fighting.
"There is international pressure, and it's growing. But particularly when the international pressure rises, we must close ranks. We need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war," he said.
The Israeli military will operate against Hamas all through the Gaza Strip, he said, "including Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold," near the border with Egypt.
"Whoever tells us not to act in Rafah is telling us to lose the war, and that will not happen," Netanyahu declared at a graduation ceremony at a training school for Israeli army officers.
Ramadan was put forward as an informal deadline for completion of the talks because violence linked to access to a major Jerusalem holy site often erupts during the month of dawn-to-dusk fasting.
Egyptian officials said the negotiations had reached an impasse over Hamas' demand for a phased truce process culminating in an end to the war. Israel has vowed to continue fighting to erase any Hamas control of the narrow territory along the Mediterranean Sea.
Hamas is believed to be holding about 100 hostages, along with the remains of about 30 others of the 240 or so it captured during its shock October 7 attack on Israel in which it killed 1,200 people.
In Israel’s subsequent counteroffensive, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed thousands of militants in the five-month war.
Hamas spokesman Jihad Taha said Israel in the negotiations "refuses to commit to and give guarantees regarding the cease-fire, the return of the displaced, and withdrawal from the areas of its incursion."
Israel had no immediate comment on the negotiations.
Under a draft of the cease-fire agreement, 40 hostages would be released in exchange for dozens of Palestinians jailed by Israel.
The Egyptian officials said Hamas has agreed to the parameters of the deal but wants commitments that it will lead to a more permanent cease-fire. The officials said Israel wants to confine the negotiations to the more limited agreement.
Israel’s military Thursday reported carrying out raids and destroying militant headquarters in the southern part of Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces said Israeli troops conducted operations in the Khan Younis area, including locating a weapons production warehouse.
Israeli operations in central Gaza also included killing about 10 militants during the past day, the military said.
The U.N.’s acting humanitarian coordinator for Palestine said Wednesday that displaced Palestinians sheltering near Rafah have started leaving the area because they fear warnings by Netanyahu of a military incursion before the start of Ramadan.
“They have moved back north to Deir Balah, some to Khan Younis, and many of them have gone to Al Mawasi — which is the area on the sand dunes on the coast,” Jamie McGoldrick told reporters virtually.
McGoldrick, who just returned from a two-day visit to Gaza, said aid workers are preparing dual contingency plans — one in anticipation of a possible cease-fire, the other in case of an Israeli incursion into Rafah.
Israel has said it would move the Palestinians to safety in advance of an attack on Rafah but has not said where they would be sent.
Unable to safely pre-position aid supplies within Gaza, McGoldrick said neither aid workers nor Palestinians seeking safety have any "easy options."
He also said U.N. officials have received a “green light” from Israel to start using a road previously reserved exclusively for use by Israeli forces. The north-south arterial that runs parallel to Gaza's eastern border will allow aid to come in through the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings and go directly to the north, which has been hard to reach.
The United Nations planned to do reconnaissance of the road on Thursday to see if it is free of explosives and to find suitable storage and distribution sites, possibly a football [soccer] stadium, he said.
Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information is from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
