Hostage negotiations resume in Israel with Egyptian delegation

TEL AVIV, Israel (NewsNation) — A group of high-level Egyptian officials will visit Israel on Friday with the hope of ramping up hostage negotiations 203 days after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, in which militants killed around 1,200 people and took some 250 people hostage.

Israel says Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Egypt’s top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, will lead the delegation and plans to discuss with Israel a “new vision” for a prolonged cease-fire in Gaza, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the mission freely.

Egypt mediates hostage negotiations

As the war drags on and casualties mount, there has been growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach an agreement on a cease-fire.

Friday’s talks will focus at first on a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners, and the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimum restrictions,” the Egyptian official said.

The talks come as Israel moves closer to a full invasion of Rafah, with Egyptian officials telling the Washington Post that Israeli military preparations could start in the coming days.

The official said mediators are working on a compromise that will answer most of both parties’ main demands.

Preparing for Israeli invasion of Rafah

U.S. officials said construction is underway on a floating pier in northern Gaza and could be finished in early May, which could be crucial to getting aid to displaced Palestinians when the Rafah invasion begins.

Hamas has said it will not back down from its demands for a permanent cease-fire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops, both of which Israel has rejected. Israel says it will continue military operations until Hamas is defeated and that it will retain a security presence in Gaza afterward.

Ahead of the talks, senior Hamas official Basem Naim told The Associated Press, “There is nothing new from our side,” when asked about the negotiations.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.

Hope for hostage deal

The hope for a hostage deal has not yet been extinguished. Reuters reported that Israeli officials are considering accepting fewer than 40 hostages in exchange for an actual deal following through.

Hostage families gathered in Tel Aviv earlier this week amid the news that 18 countries, including the United States, issued a joint demand for the hostages to be released.

That includes the family of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who appeared in a recent Hamas propaganda video.

“We are hopeful and prayerful that this is the beginning of a galvanizing force of these countries who are going to continue going forward and shout in a loud unified way that they are not stopping until all of these hostages come home,” his mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin said.

There are debates over what kind of a deal is acceptable, but families of hostages believe Israel should make every concession necessary to get their loved ones home. However, other Israelis don’t want to give up too much for fear it will give Hamas the ability to threaten their country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.