Egypt’s president on Sunday said his country has proposed a two-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas during which four hostages held in Gaza would be freed and some Palestinian prisoners would be released.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, speaking in Cairo, said the proposal also includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. This is the first time Egypt’s president has publicly proposed such a plan.
Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been a key mediator for peace talks between Israel and Hamas since the war broke out more than a year ago. Months of negotiations sputtered to a halt in August.
El-Sissi said the proposal aims to “move the situation forward,” adding that once the two-day cease-fire goes into effect, negotiations would continue to make it permanent.
There hasn’t been a cease-fire in 11 months, since November’s weeklong pause in fighting in which 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Egypt’s proposal comes as Israel’s top spy, Mossad chief David Barnea, is traveling to Doha on Sunday for talks with CIA Director William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
There have not been any immediate reactions from Israel or Hamas to Egypt’s proposal.
During a government memorial Sunday for the Hebrew anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “not every goal can be achieved through military operations.” He added that “painful compromises will be required” to return the hostages.
Egypt’s proposal came a day after Israeli strikes on Iran in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel earlier this month. Iran’s supreme leader said the attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation. It was Israel’s first open attack on its archenemy.
That exchange of fire has raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which include Hamas and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this month after nearly a year of lower-level conflict sparked by the war in Gaza.