White House says latest Gaza talks 'constructive' as envoys plot path to ceasefire

Talks in Cairo aimed at reaching a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages have been “constructive,” with some progress made, and all sides need to come together to work toward implementation of a proposed agreement, the White House says.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the discussions will continue on Friday with CIA director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk representing the United States.

Kirby said Hamas militants should participate in the negotiations, which on Thursday included negotiators from Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar but not Hamas.

“We’re in Cairo. They’re in Cairo. We need Hamas to participate, and we need to get down to the brass tacks of locking in these details. And that’s what we’re focused on here in the next, coming days here over the course of the weekend,” Kirby said.

He said early signs in Cairo were that the discussions “have been constructive” but more talks are planned.

“Things are moving forward,” he said, denying some news reports that the talks were near collapse.

US President Joe Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move Israeli troops back from Gaza’s border with Egypt as part of an initial phase of a ceasefire deal so that talks could continue, Axios reported on Friday.

Netanyahu partially accepted Biden’s request made in their call on Wednesday and agreed to give up an Israeli troop position along one part of the Egypt-Gaza border, three Israeli officials told Axios.

The families of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip met with Netanyahu on Friday and vented their anger at his failure to seal a ceasefire deal that would lead to their loved ones’ release from Hamas captivity.

The Hostages Family Forum, a group representing relatives of hostages taken in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, said Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to do everything in his power to bring their family members back alive.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army told residents of several neighbourhoods in the northern part of Gaza city to flee on Friday, ahead of a new military operation following repeated rocket attacks.

People should go to shelters west of the city of Gaza, according to an appeal issued by an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman in Arabic.

Amid ongoing shelling from the area, the IDF plans to take action against the Hamas and other militant groups there.

Aid organisations are increasingly critical of the IDF’s repeated calls for civilians in the Gaza Strip to flee.

“The constant evacuation orders are wearing down families in Gaza and massively hindering life-saving aid,” said Martin Frick, head of the Berlin office of the UN World Food Programme.

“Almost everyone in Gaza has been displaced by the successive evacuation orders since October 2023.”

Overall, about 86 per cent of the embattled coastal strip is an evacuation area, he said.

In August alone, numerous calls to flee affected a quarter of a million people.

“Some families are fleeing for the tenth time.”

The IDF said two projectiles were fired from the northern Gaza Strip towards the Israeli border town of Sderot in the early evening.

One was intercepted while the other landed in an open area.

Reports of injuries were not initially available.

with DPA and AP