Egypt has proposed a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to facilitate a potential prisoner exchange, with the goal of a longer-term truce, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi announced.
“We have proposed a two-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to exchange four (Israeli) hostages for some (Palestinian) prisoners, and then there will be negotiations for ten days to turn the ceasefire into a permanent ceasefire,” Al-Sisi said during a joint conference for journalists with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Teboune in Cairo, according to AA.
The Algerian president expressed strong support for Egypt’s initiative, supporting Al-Sisi’s efforts to restore peace in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel estimates that 101 of its citizens are still being held captive by the Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and it is feared that some have already been killed in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes on the densely populated area.
In violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has continued its devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since last year’s attack by Hamas.
Since then, nearly 43,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 100,000 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli attack has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice for its attacks on the Gaza Strip.