Hamas Delegation arrives in Egypt for do-or-die Gaza truce deal

Rebuilding Gaza could cost as much as $40bn, according to the UN [File: Hatem Khaled/Reuters]

Click here to share on social media

• A Hamas delegation arrives in Egypt for what appears to be do-or-die negotiations on a ceasefire, with the movement saying it is “determined to achieve an agreement”.
• The Hamas and CIA officials will meet Egyptian mediators on Saturday, an Egyptian security source said, though it was unclear whether they would meet separately or together.
• Hamas said its delegates were traveling to Cairo in a “positive spirit” after studying the latest proposal for a truce agreement.
• “We are determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfils Palestinians’ demands,” Hamas said in a statement.
• Israel reportedly gives Hamas one week to agree to a ceasefire and prisoner-captive exchange deal, threatening it will launch its ground invasion of Rafah otherwise.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presses Israel and Hamas to reach a truce deal “for the sake of the people of Gaza, the hostages and their families, and the region and the wider world”.
• Hundreds of thousands of people “at imminent risk of death” if Israel carries out ground invasion of Rafah, says UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
• At least 34,622 Palestinians , mostly women and children have been killed and 77,867 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive.
• Israel violating US laws: Dozens of Democrat US lawmakers have written a letter to President Joe Biden saying that ongoing Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza “call into question” their compliance with US law.
• “Israel invading forces are moving in heavy demolition equipment in Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank… Netanyahu has ordered the demolition of over 3,500 Palestinian homes that will be used for settlements… We are witnessing a genocide of a nation in real time”, the Economist’s Middle East correspondent in Gaza was quoted as saying on Friday