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A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials on alleged Israeli ceasefire violations and preparations for launching the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, amid parallel U.S. efforts to establish a Peace Council outlined in the latest U.N. resolution.
A source familiar with the matter in Hamas told Arab news outlet Asharq that the meetings also aim to “discuss the arrangements for forming an independent technocratic committee that would assume the administration of the Gaza Strip.”
The Hamas delegation is also expected to hold bilateral meetings in Cairo with leaders of various factions, including the Popular Front, the Democratic Front, and others, before convening a broader meeting that brings together all factions.
Parallel to these developments, a separate track is underway aimed at advancing the transition to the second phase of the Gaza agreement.
The United States has begun efforts related to the formation of the Peace Council stipulated in the latest U.N. Security Council resolution on Gaza.
According to Haaretz, U.S. officials confirmed that Washington has started reducing its military presence at the Gaza operations center, the facility responsible for monitoring the ceasefire, facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid, and overseeing disarmament efforts in the Strip.
This step, the officials said, is intended as a preliminary measure ahead of placing the center under the authority of the Peace Council.
On Saturday, Hamas said in a statement that the Israeli military has been making changes to the “yellow line” and to the withdrawal lines stipulated in the ceasefire maps, in addition to carrying out “airstrikes and artillery shelling” in areas east of the Gaza Strip.
The movement called on mediators to “intervene urgently” to address what it described as Israeli “violations” and attempts to “undermine” the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The statement added that Israel’s “systematic violations” have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians “as a result of ongoing airstrikes and killings under various pretexts” and have led to “changes in the occupation army’s withdrawal lines in contravention of the maps that had been agreed upon.”
Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire and detainee-exchange agreement last October, which included the withdrawal of Israeli forces to lines linked to the phased implementation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war.
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