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RAFAH/CAIRO: Egypt said on Monday it is ready to join a potential international force deployed to Gaza, provided it is backed by a UN Security Council resolution and accompanied by a “political horizon,” as ceasefire efforts continue in Cairo.

“We are standing ready of course to help, to contribute to any international force to be deployed in Gaza in some specific parameters,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said at a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa at the Rafah border crossing.

“First of all, to have a Security Council resolution, to have a clear-cut mandate, and of course to come within a political horizon. Without a political horizon, it will be nonsense to deploy any forces there.”

Abdelatty said a political framework would allow international troops to operate more effectively and support Palestinians “to realize their own independent Palestinian state in their homeland.”

Mustafa said a temporary committee would manage the territory after the war, with full authority remaining with the Palestinian government. “We’re not creating a new political entity in Gaza. Rather, we are reactivating the institutions in the State of Palestine and its government in Gaza,” he said.

Hamas has previously welcomed the idea of a temporary committee to “oversee relief efforts, reconstruction and governance,” though it remains unclear whether the group is willing to relinquish control of the territory.

Meanwhile, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met in Cairo with Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss the situation in Gaza and the broader Palestinian issue.

Both leaders emphasized the urgency of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, ensuring the rapid and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid, and securing the release of hostages and captives, while rejecting any military reoccupation or displacement of Palestinians.

Sisi and Sheikh Mohammed reaffirmed that establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international resolutions, is essential for lasting peace and stability.

They also stressed the need to begin reconstruction in Gaza immediately after a ceasefire and to prepare for an international reconstruction conference in coordination with the Palestinian government and the United Nations.

The two sides highlighted the importance of continuing joint diplomatic efforts to support Palestinian sovereignty, protect Palestinian civilians, and advance political solutions for a sustainable peace.

CAIRO: Hamas negotiators in Cairo have received a new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, a Palestinian official said Monday, with the prime minister of key mediator Qatar also in Egypt to push for a truce.
Efforts by mediators Egypt and Qatar, along with the United States, have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire in the ongoing war, which over more than 22 months has created a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that the latest proposal from mediators “is a framework agreement to launch negotiations on a permanent ceasefire,” calling for an initial 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches.
The official said that “Hamas will hold internal consultations among its leadership” and with leaders of other Palestinian factions to review the text.
A source from Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction that has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, told AFP that the plan involved a “ceasefire agreement lasting 60 days, during which 10 Israeli hostages would be released alive, along with a number of bodies.”
Out of 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war, 49 are still held in Gaza including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
According to the Islamic Jihad source, “the remaining captives would be released in a second phase, with immediate negotiations to follow for a broader deal” for a permanent end to “the war and aggression” with international guarantees.
The source added that “all factions are supportive of what was presented” by the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said that Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was visiting “to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible.”
Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where UN agencies and aid groups have warned of famine, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement.
“The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination,” he said.
On the ground, Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire across the territory killed at least 11 people on Monday.
AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swaths of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency or the Israeli military.
Rights group Amnesty International meanwhile accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza and “systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life.”
Israel, while heavily restricting aid allowed into the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly rejected claims of deliberate starvation.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,944 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable.