US, Egypt 'hopeful' of Gaza truce as envoys meet in Cairo
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00:00 A delegation from Hamas is in Egypt today, set to respond to the latest proposal from
00:05 Israel for a hostage release deal and truce in the Gaza Strip after almost seven months
00:10 of war.
00:12 Comments made anonymously by a senior Hamas official have sparked hope that this time
00:16 a deal could be just around the corner.
00:19 This is Israel carries on with its offensive, standing firm on its plans for a ground operation
00:24 in Rafah.
00:25 We're going to talk more about this now with our Iris Mackler, who joins me live from
00:29 Jerusalem.
00:30 Iris, let's start with these talks that are on today in Egypt.
00:33 What's the latest that you're hearing from there?
00:35 Well, I think it's significant that they are in Egypt.
00:38 The traditional negotiator mediator has taken the reins back.
00:44 There is no Qatari presence.
00:46 They've streamlined relations with Hamas.
00:49 They've got a hotline straight to Hamas in Gaza.
00:52 There is a presence of Hamas leaders from outside, as they call them, the external leadership.
00:57 But it's all focused in Egypt.
00:59 And we heard from Egypt's prime minister today condemning the October the 7th attacks in
01:04 Israel and the Israel's response to them in Gaza.
01:08 So an even handed broker returning to its job.
01:11 Let's discuss what we're hearing in terms of what's on offer.
01:16 Hamas will abandon its request or its demand that the war will stop entirely before it
01:22 releases any hostages.
01:24 It will release between 30 and 40 hostages.
01:27 There'll be a day of calm for every hostage release.
01:30 So if it's 35, there'll be a 35 day break in fighting.
01:33 If it's 42, there'll be 42.
01:35 And then they'll go on to a phase two of negotiations.
01:39 And in that phase two, by the way, there's a promise from a guarantee from Israel, Egypt
01:46 and the US that Hamas Gaza leaders can go to Cairo to negotiate and they won't be attacked
01:52 by Israel.
01:53 That's what Hamas is offering.
01:55 Israel is offering to stop or to halt or suspend its operation in Rafah and to release some
02:02 hostages.
02:03 No details known about the Palestinian hostages and their numbers.
02:07 And that, it seems, may be a winning ticket.
02:11 What we have heard from Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, who's currently in
02:15 Riyadh, is that this is an extraordinarily generous offer, as he puts it, and that he
02:21 hopes Hamas will take it up, you know, will react to it because it would be for the good
02:26 of the whole region.
02:27 Iris, as you said, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Riyadh.
02:30 The French foreign minister is there as well, as long as other Western and Arab diplomats.
02:34 What else are we hearing out of those meetings?
02:38 What we're hearing that Antony Blinken said today is that Washington and Saudi Arabia
02:44 are nearly at the end of a month long intensive negotiation process, which looks at the possibility
02:51 of normalising relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
02:55 He said they're very near completion.
02:57 And I guess what that's doing is it's dangling a diplomatic carrot in front of Israel.
03:02 This is something that it's well known that Benjamin Netanyahu has long wished for and
03:07 worked for.
03:08 And I guess it's as Thomas Friedman put it in the New York Times, it leaves Israel a
03:14 choice between Rafah, an operation there, and Riyadh, between a military option and
03:20 a political one, between a military option and a strategic one.
03:24 So for all those reasons, it's a diplomatic opportunity that is being offered to Israel
03:31 and to moderate Palestinian leaders.
03:33 It does involve recognition of the Palestinian state.
03:36 Will that come, you know, that will not be easy for this particular coalition government
03:41 and Benjamin Netanyahu at its head.
03:44 Nevertheless, you can see that this would be a breakthrough moment and a complete change,
03:49 actually, in the Middle East.