PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (AFP) — Israeli negotiators were taking part Thursday in talks on Gaza in Cairo, a government spokesperson said, as fighting raged on the ground despite United States pressure on Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire agreement.
Hopes for a deal have dwindled though as Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have traded blame for failing to reach a deal after more than 10 months of war in the Gaza Strip.
A main sticking point remains Hamas’ longstanding demand for a “complete” Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed.
Netanyahu’s spokesperson Omer Dostri told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea and Ronen Bar, head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service, were in the Egyptian capital and “negotiating to advance a hostage (release) agreement.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Thursday that bullets had been found in the bodies of six hostages retrieved from a Gaza tunnel earlier this week, indicating that they had been shot.
The bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, Chaim Perry and Avraham Munder were found on Monday night in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said the following day, though it was not clear what had caused their deaths in captivity.
A military spokesperson told AFP on Thursday that examinations were carried out and “bullets were found in the bodies of the six hostages” seized from the site raided by Israeli forces in the Khan Yunis area.
“The investigation into the circumstances of their deaths continues,” the spokesperson added.
The six dead hostages were among 251 people seized by Palestinian militants during Hamas’ 7 October attack on southern Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
Of those, 105 remain in the Palestinian territory, including 34 the military says are dead.
Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that the six “were killed while our forces were operating in Khan Yunis.”