Egyptian media: Mediators seek to restart truce talks

Egypt is intensifying efforts to restart negotiations for a truce and a hostage-prisoner exchange in the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, according to reports in state-linked Al-Qahera News, cited by AFP. Talks involving Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators have stalled since May when Israeli forces entered Rafah and seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Cairo, emphasizing the dire consequences of continued Israeli actions in Rafah, insists on coordinating aid through Palestinian and international parties only, refusing Israeli involvement.

The report follows an Israeli strike on a displacement camp west of Rafah, killing at least 21 people, which has exacerbated tensions between Israel and Egypt. Cairo condemned a prior strike on a Rafah camp that killed 45 people as a violation of international law. The current Gaza conflict, the deadliest yet, was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed over 1,170 people and led to 252 hostages being taken. Israel’s incursion into Gaza with the stated intention of “eliminating Hamas, has led to the deaths of at least 36,096 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.