Negotiations in Cairo aimed at reaching an agreement on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and the release of Hamas hostages will continue, John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said today, clarifying that the talks will take place in the coming days. at the level of working groups in order to settle specific issues.
Kerby did not share the view that the talks had broken down, but instead claimed they were “constructive”.
Progress had been made to the point where it was felt that the next logical step would be for the talks to continue at the level of working groups, which would take it upon themselves to sort out the details of certain issues, the White House spokesman told reporters.
Brett McGurk, the White House special envoy for the Middle East who has been involved in the negotiations, will leave Cairo soon, with one extra day left for talks between the working groups to begin, Kerby said.
As he underlined, one of the issues that the working groups will have to settle is the details of the gradual exchange of Hamas hostages with Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The latest round of negotiations was held in the shadow of the threat of a generalized conflict in the Middle East. Over the weekend, Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, while the Israeli military launched airstrikes in Lebanon to prevent a larger-scale attack. But Kerby maintained that hostilities between the Israeli army and Hezbollah fighters had no impact on the talks in Cairo.
Source: RES-MPE
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