Long-term ceasefire indirect talks in Cairo resumed Monday after a new 72-hour ceasefire, agreed by Israel and Hamas and brokered by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority (PA) with the help of the Arab League, went into effect at midnight local time.
A few minutes before the ceasefire came into effect, Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv for the first time in a week. The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted two rockets over Ashdod.
Shortly after Egyptian media announced on Sunday evening that a cease-fire had been accepted by both sides, Israeli officials stated that Israel had accepted a truce but would only send a delegation to Cairo on Monday if Hamas kept the peace overnight. There have been no rockets fired at Israel from Gaza since the truce went into effect at midnight.
According to the officials, the decision was taken in accordance with Israel’s policy that it will not negotiate while under fire. Last week, Israeli negotiators left Egypt after rocket fire resumed on Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that “Israel will not engage in negotiations under fire,”while Hamas threatened to abandon the talks over the weekend unless their demands were met in full.
Asked why Jerusalem believes Hamas accepted the cease-fire after rejecting an extension on Friday morning, an Israeli government official said that Hamas was under a great deal of strain that included not only military pressure from Israel but also pressure from many in the Arab world, as well as people in Gaza who want to see the crisis end.
Egypt's foreign ministry urged "both sides to exploit this truce to resume indirect negotiations immediately and work towards a comprehensive and lasting cease-fire agreement".
The negotiations themselves have shown mixed progress, with Egypt and Israel unwilling to give into Hamas’ long list of demands, and Hamas in turn refusing to consider demilitarisation, Israel’s main demand.
Galei Tsahal, the Israeli army radio reported that the five-person Israeli negotiating team in Cairo comprises senior defense official Amos Gilad, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associate Yitzhak Molcho, Maj.-Gen. Nimrod Sheffer, the head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate, and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Yoav Mordechai.
The radio report said the talks will be focused on “security issues.”
Molcho, Sheffer, and Gilad all met with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in 2012, prior to his election and after the toppling of Mohammed Morsi, to discuss security cooperation between the Israeli and Egyptian armed forces.
Alex Fishman in daily Yediot Ahronot wrote, “While it is the Egyptians who have been torturing Hamas in Cairo and have flatly rejected all of its demands, Hamas would not dare insult the circus ring leader, Sisi. That is why Hamas has continued to fire on Israel, so that Israel might pressure Egypt into treating it a bit better.” He also notes that, “Director of Egyptian Intelligence Mohamed al-Tuhami won’t even speak directly with the Hamas representatives; he talks only with Azzam al-Ahmed, the Palestinian Authority’s representative on the delegation.”
There are indications that the talks between Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have been constructive, but Hamas continues to stick to its maximal demands. The Twitter account of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades tweeted this morning that Hamas remains ready to return to violence.