GAZA: Israel and Hamas both dampened hopes on Monday of a speedy breakthrough in Cairo talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal after Egyptian state-linked media had reported "significant progress".
As the Gaza war raged on into a seventh month, Israel is under growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire, including from its top ally and arms supplier the United States.
Amid the threats and ongoing fighting, Netanyahu has sent negotiators to fresh truce talks that started in Cairo on Sunday, joined by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
US President Joe Biden sent CIA chief Bill Burns to the talks, three days after a terse phone call with Netanyahu in which Biden demanded a halt to the fighting and greater steps to help and protect Gaza civilians.
Egypt's state-linked news outlet Al-Qahera reported "significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement", citing an unnamed high-ranking Egyptian source.
The Qatari and Palestinian delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return "within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement", it said, while the US and Israeli teams were also planning 48 hours of consultations.
However, Israel's Ynet news outlet cited an unidentified Israeli official as tempering the upbeat Egyptian report and stressing that "we still don't see a deal on the horizon".
"The distance is still great and there has been nothing dramatic in the meantime," the Israeli official was quoted as saying by the Hebrew-language website.
A separate senior Israeli official was quoted by Ynet as saying that "patience is needed. There is potential, but we are not there yet".
A senior Hamas official meanwhile said that "we cannot speak of concrete progress so far", with disagreement centred on the pace of displaced Palestinians returning to Gaza City in the north.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,207 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory.
A siege has deprived Gazans of most water, food and other basic supplies -- the dire shortages only eased by aid trucks and, in recent weeks, airdropped relief supplies.
Vast areas of Gaza have been turned into a rubble-strewn wasteland, with damage to infrastructure, mostly housing, estimated at $18.5 billion, a World Bank report said.
On Sunday, after Israeli forces left Khan Yunis, displaced Palestinians streamed back there, stunned by the level of destruction. — AFP
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