Egyptian negotiators head to Israel for talks on Gaza ceasefire and border dispute

Egyptians to propose new ideas to resolve deadlock over Israel's occupation of Rafah crossing

Flames rise from a residential building hit by an Israeli strike in Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday. Reuters

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Senior Egyptian negotiators are due in Tel Aviv on Thursday to discuss with Israeli officials new Gaza ceasefire proposals along with suggestions to resolve the dispute between the two nations over Israel's occupation of the Palestinian side of the Egypt-Gaza border and Rafah crossing.

Sources briefed on the visit told The National that the Egyptian delegates from the nation's spy agency will present to intelligence officials in Israel's Mossad a plan to declare a temporary but renewable truce in Gaza.

During the initial ceasefire and as a prelude to a prisoner and hostage swap, Israel and Hamas will share the names of the hostages and Palestinians jailed in Israel on security-related offences who are to be released.

According to the sources, the delegates will also discuss Egyptian proposals for running the Rafah crossing after Israel's military pulls out from the Palestinian side, which it occupied six months ago.

The sources did not share how long the initial truce would be, but said it would be longer than the 48-hour pause previously proposed by the Egyptians and rejected by Hamas. Negotiations to reach a permanent ceasefire would be held while the truce remains in effect, they added.

The proposals include the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the return home of displaced Palestinians, the sources said without giving details.

It is uncertain whether Hamas and Israel will accept the plans, according to the sources, but Cairo feels the need to build on momentum created by the Lebanon ceasefire that went into effect on Wednesday and not wait for a Donald Trump administration to take the reins in Washington in January.

“Moreover, Egypt feels that delaying a ceasefire in Gaza can only worsen an already desperate humanitarian situation there to a level at which the Palestinians will have no choice but to swarm across the border into Egypt in search for both food and safety,” said one of the sources.

“Egypt's decision to present Israel with new proposals have a slim chance of being adopted by either Hamas or Israel but it ramps up the pressure on Israel at a time of growing international concern over the war,” added the source.

Egypt has repeatedly warned against the mass migration of Palestinians to its Sinai Peninsula, arguing this would “liquidate” the Palestinian cause and threaten Egyptian national security.

Besides hunger and malnutrition-related ailments in Gaza, the 13-month-old war in the tiny coastal strip has left more than 44,000 Palestinians dead and more than twice that number injured. Built-up areas of Gaza have been razed and much of its infrastructure devastated.

Egypt, Qatar and the US have for close to a year been trying without success to broker a ceasefire and the release of Israeli and other hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the freedom of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel.

The war began when fighters from Hamas and allied Gaza groups attacked southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing about 1,200 Israelis and taking hostage about 250 others. The attack drew a relentless Israeli response and spilt over into Lebanon, where Hezbollah and Israel exchanged cross-border fire for nearly a year before Israel invaded southern Lebanon and dramatically stepped up air strikes across much of the country.

The Egyptian delegates travelling to Israel on Thursday will also propose that a Palestinian agency approved by the occupied West Bank-based Palestinian Authority takes over running the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, alongside a UN force that ensures security and smooth passage of relief aid into Gaza, said the sources. Hamas would not be represented in the agency, they added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated his opposition to any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and declared the eradication of Hamas as a main war goal. The sources said Israel has moreover demanded that it retains the right to screen Palestinians crossing into Egypt, including the wounded, under whatever regime runs the Rafah crossing.

Israel last May captured the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing – Gaza's only window on the outside world that is not controlled by Israel – along with the strip of land that runs the entire length of the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

Egypt was angered and in response closed its side of the crossing, arguing the Israeli move violated provisions of a 1979 peace treaty between the two countries and subsequent accords.