Jerusalem, May 9: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visiting US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns met in Israel on Wednesday to discuss ongoing efforts to reach a deal that would include a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, according to an Israeli government source.Netanyahu and Burns touched on the current Gaza truce negotiations in Egypt’s capital Cairo, the source said, without specifying the timing and location of the meeting, Xinhua news agency reported.
Israel’s Ynet news website reported that Burns arrived in Israel after taking part in the talks held in Doha and Cairo.
Israeli, Hamas, Qatari, and US negotiators arrived in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss an Egyptian-brokered Gaza truce proposal backed by Hamas.
Despite Israel announcing that the proposal falls short of its demands, its delegation remained in Cairo on Wednesday noon, the source said.
In a video statement released on Tuesday, Netanyahu said he had instructed the Israeli delegation to “continue to stand firm on the conditions necessary for the release of Israeli hostages, (and) continue to stand firm on the essential requirements to ensure Israel’s security”.
Meanwhile, Hamas battled Israeli troops on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip’s crowded southern city of Rafah on Wednesday and Washington said it had held up a shipment of powerful bombs to Israel to prevent civilian casualties.
The United States, which aims to stave off a full Israeli invasion of Rafah, said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in an impasse in negotiations, with talks resuming in Cairo on Wednesday.
Israeli tanks rolled across the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and the only exit for the evacuation of wounded patients.
A U.N. official said no fuel or aid had entered the Gaza Strip due to the military operation, a situation “disastrous for the humanitarian response” in Gaza where more than half the population is suffering catastrophic hunger.
Israel has threatened a major assault on Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there. But the city is also a refuge for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have fled combat further north in the enclave.
They have crammed into tented camps and makeshift shelters, suffering from shortages of food, water and medicine. Rafah’s main maternity hospital, where nearly half of Gaza’s births take place, has stopped admitting patients, the United Nations Population Fund told Reuters on Wednesday.
Hamas said its fighters were battling with Israeli forces in the east and Islamic Jihad’s fighters attacked Israeli soldiers and military vehicles with heavy artillery near the airport.