A round of high-level talks in Cairo aimed at forging a ceasefire and hostage deal to at least temporarily end the 10-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza ended on Sunday without a final agreement, a U.S. official said. But talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days to fill remaining gaps.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said lower-level “working teams” will remain in Cairo to meet with mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt and resolve remaining differences. The official described the latest talks, which began in Cairo on Thursday and continued through Sunday, as “constructive” and said all parties were working to “reach a final and workable agreement.”
CIA Director William Burns and David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, took part in the talks. A Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not participate directly in the negotiations.
The development came after Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy gunfire early Sunday morning but then stopped short of triggering what was widely feared to be a full-scale war, with both sides signaling that their fiercest exchange in months was over.
Hezbollah claimed it hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv as part of a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones, and Israel claimed the dozens of strikes were preemptive to avert a larger attack. Neither provided evidence.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the attack was a response to Israel’s killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut last month. It was postponed to give ceasefire talks in Gaza a chance and so the Iran-backed groups could discuss with Iran whether to attack Israel all at once. Israeli and US military operations also played a role.
“We now reserve the right to react at a later stage” if the results of Sunday’s attack are not sufficient, Nasrallah said, adding that allied Houthi rebels in Yemen – and Iran itself – had not yet responded. But he told the Lebanese people: “At this current stage, the country can breathe a sigh of relief and relax.”
Israel and Hezbollah said they attacked only military targets. Israel said Hezbollah did not hit a military target, but one Marine soldier was killed and two others were wounded either by an interceptor or by shrapnel from one. Two Hezbollah fighters and a militant from an allied group were killed, the groups said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had eliminated thousands of rockets aimed at northern Israel and shot down drones heading toward the center of the country.
“I repeat – this is not the end of the story,” he added.
