Cairo ceasefire talks appear to be stalling as Rafah offensive looms

As diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting in Gaza and free Israeli hostages appeared to be failing on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Hamas had presented no new offer for a hostage deal in the Cairo talks and that Israel would not accept the group's "ludicrous demands," Reuters reported.

"A change in Hamas' positions will make it possible to move forward in the negotiations," the report quoted the prime minister's office as saying after a second day of international talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a ceasefire.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that Egypt extended the talks for three additional days to continue working out differences. However, Netanyahu did not approve the return of Mossad Chief David Barnea, who attended the talks on Tuesday, to Cairo.

As part of the ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel regarding a hostage swap, the most significant disagreement relates to the word "ceasefire," said Li Shaoxian, director of the China-Arab Research Institute at Ningxia University, during an interview with China Media Group. Li explained that while Israel's primary objective is to free the detainees, Hamas' primary objective is to achieve a ceasefire, as Hamas stated on Sunday that any attack on Rafah would torpedo the negotiations.

Israel's public stance on the talks is that its delegation went to Cairo as a "listening gesture," according to Li.

"Personally, I believe that Israel's statement does not reflect a refusal to reach an agreement regarding the exchange of hostages. Rather, it reflects the Israeli side's caution and not being resigned to playing second fiddle," said Li, as he explained that since Hamas is not involved in the Quartet talks but is represented by Egypt and Qatar, and that whatever agreement the Quartet arrives at will have to be left to Hamas to decide.  

France opposes Rafah offensive

Israel is facing mounting calls to agree to a truce in Gaza as its deadly conflict with Hamas has lasted for more than four months and claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians.

The calls came as Israel was indicating it was set to launch a ground operation in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from the Israeli relentless bombardments in other parts of the coastal enclave.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone with Netanyahu and told him France opposed an Israeli offensive in Rafah.

Macron said that such an attack "could only lead to a humanitarian disaster of a new magnitude," according to a readout released by the Elysee. It would "constitute violations of the international humanitarian law and would pose an additional risk of regional escalation," he said.

Defying the growing pressure, Netanyahu told Macron that Israel "will fight until a total victory and it includes a powerful operation in Rafah." He said that the army would allow civilians to flee the city before launching the attack.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who was on a visit to Israel, said in a post on X on Saturday that the distress in Rafah "is already unbelievable" and an army attack would be "a humanitarian catastrophe." The people who seek shelter in Rafah "cannot disappear into thin air," she wrote.

'Unfathomable catastrophe'

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned of an "unfathomable catastrophe" that the potential expansion of an Israeli ground assault could cause in Rafah.

Speaking at a virtual press briefing from Rafah, Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said 1.5 million people were crammed into the city with nowhere safe to go, sparking a new wave of displacement and additional injuries.

That could have "dire consequences" on people's health and push the already ailing health system closer to the brink of collapse, Peeperkorn said.

There are only three partially functional hospitals in Rafah, supplemented by three field hospitals, offering just 450 beds that pale in comparison to actual needs, the WHO representative said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross made similar comments on the devastating conditions in Rafah on Wednesday. "There is a lack of food, drinking water, sanitation, health care, and safety," it said.

"Coupled with constant stress and fear, and taking into account injuries, age, and disabilities, many residents are in a weakened state and at elevated risk of dying from common infections or diseases," the humanitarian organization added.

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has risen to 28,576 with 68,291 others wounded since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said in a press statement on Wednesday.

During the last 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 103 Palestinians and wounded 145 others, it added.

Border tensions

In the latest clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border, five people were killed and six others were injured on Wednesday night in two Israeli air strikes on Lebanon's southern border areas, Lebanese medical and security sources told Xinhua.

The sources said that an Israeli drone destroyed, with two air-to-surface missiles, a residential apartment within a three-story building on the eastern side of Lebanon's southern city of Nabatieh.

The sources noted that initial information from rescue teams indicated that four people were killed and six others injured in the drone attack, adding a search was underway for missing persons while rescuers continued to clear the debris.

Meanwhile, a house in the southeastern village of Deir Siriane was hit by two missiles fired by an Israeli warplane, which resulted in its destruction and the death of the occupant, according to the Xinhua report.

Earlier in the day, five people were killed and 11 others were wounded in Israeli air strikes on the southeastern villages of Aadchit and al-Sawaneh, the report added. 

(With input from agencies)