Egypt – An Egyptian official source revealed on Friday evening that a four-party meeting, in which Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel will participate, will be held next Sunday in the Italian capital, Rome, to discuss reaching a truce agreement in the Gaza Strip.
This came according to what was reported by the “Cairo News” channel, from the source, which it described as “high-level” without revealing his identity.
According to the same source, “A four-way meeting will be held in Rome next Sunday between Egyptian officials and their American and Qatari counterparts, in the presence of the head of Israeli intelligence (David Barnea).”
The source said, “The Rome meeting comes within the framework of the mediators’ continued efforts to reach a truce agreement in Gaza.”
He added, “The Egyptian security delegation will discuss (during the meeting) the developments of the truce negotiations in Gaza.”
He pointed out that “Egypt stressed its commitment to the necessity of reaching a formula that calls for an immediate ceasefire, guarantees the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, guarantees freedom of movement for citizens in Gaza, and a complete withdrawal from the Rafah crossing,” without further details.
For months, mediation efforts led by Egypt and Qatar, along with the United States, have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian factions in Gaza that would include a prisoner exchange from both sides, and a ceasefire that would guarantee the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged Strip.
However, mediation efforts were hampered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to respond to the factions’ demands to stop the war.
The American website “Axios” quoted American and Israeli officials as saying on Friday that the Rome meeting will also be attended by the Director of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Bill Burns, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and the Director of Egyptian General Intelligence Abbas Kamel.
A source familiar with the matter said, according to Axios, that the truce negotiations and prisoner exchange are not expected to be discussed in detail during the meeting.
The source explained that the meeting will focus mainly on the future strategy for the negotiations.
While Israeli media outlets have recently reported that Netanyahu is “deliberately” delaying the prisoner exchange and ceasefire agreement and prolonging the negotiations by making other demands, the Axios website reported that after Netanyahu met with US President Joe Biden on Thursday, as part of his visit to the United States, “there is now a more optimistic atmosphere about the possibility of reaching an agreement within a short time.”
The website quoted an Israeli official as saying that Netanyahu “promised” Biden to send an updated deal proposal to Qatari and Egyptian mediators to present to the Palestinian factions movement within two days.
But another Israeli source familiar with the matter said that Biden and his advisers were not sure, even after about three hours of talks, whether Netanyahu really wanted to reach a deal or was buying time to prevent his government from collapsing.
The source added that the Israeli negotiators do not expect to make any progress in the Rome meeting, and they doubted the possibility of Biden convincing Netanyahu to ease some of his harsh demands.
Speaking about the Rome meeting, Netanyahu said during his meeting with former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the US state of Florida earlier on Friday: “Only time will tell if we are close to concluding a deal,” according to what was reported by the private Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
He continued, claiming: “I believe that progress has been made in the talks thanks to military pressure on the factions’ movement.
Netanyahu is sticking to any deal with the possibility of resuming the war, while the factions insist on ending it, withdrawing the Israeli army, allowing the displaced to return to their areas, and rebuilding the Gaza Strip.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war with American support on Gaza, leaving more than 129,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of dozens of children.
Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Anatolia
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2024-07-28 22:58:20
