Israeli delegation arrives in Cairo for Gaza cease-fire talks

An Israeli delegation has arrived in Egypt to press ahead with cease-fire talks, as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal. That’s according to three Egyptian airport officials who did not provide further details.

International mediators are pushing Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages held by the terrorist group in Gaza.

The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack sparked the war when terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting about 250. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,600 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

The Israeli delegation includes six officials, the airport officials said without disclosing identities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the arrival with the media.

Talks between the sides were rattled over the weekend when Israel said it targeted Hamas’ military commander in a massive strike. His status remains unclear. Hamas has said the talks continue.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin that such heavy pressure on Hamas had “led to the conditions necessary to achieve an agreement for the return of the hostages.” He gave no further details in a statement from his office.

The negotiations aimed at winding down the war face four key sticking points, including which hostages should be released, people with knowledge of the talks told Bloomberg News.

Other issues include whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sticks to his demands that Hamas be barred from northern Gaza, according to the people, who asked not be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. Additionally, Netanyahu wants his forces to retain control of a key southern border corridor and that he should not be bound to an indefinite cease-fire.

“These discussions are ongoing,” David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. “We want to bring our people home and back to their families.”

Bassem Naim, a Hamas official, declined to comment. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last week said there are “still miles to go” in the talks.

In other developments:

— The U.S. military-built pier to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza will be dismantled and brought home, ending a mission that has been fraught with repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other supplies could get to Palestinians. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander at U.S. Central Command, told reporters in a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that the pier achieved its intended effect in what he called an “unprecedented operation.”

— A former Israeli soldier convicted of fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian man in the head in 2016 has been banned from entering the U.S. The visa restrictions on Elor Azaria and his immediate family are intended “to promote accountability for gross violations of human rights” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Wednesday, calling the shooting an “extrajudicial killing.”

— Israeli authorities released 13 Palestinians who had been detained for weeks, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Wednesday, noting they were taken from an Israeli checkpoint to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.