Egyptian president urges "more efforts" by concerned parties to reach Gaza truce

CAIRO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Monday called on all parties to exert "more efforts" to reach a comprehensive truce in the Gaza Strip and finalize the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Sisi wrote on his official Facebook page that he is "closely following" the positive developments of the ongoing Gaza truce talks, which would lead to "an end to the human tragedy that the Palestinian people are suffering from."

Hamas on Monday informed the Egyptian and Qatari sides of its approval of their proposal regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, while Israel said it is currently "examining every response and answer very seriously, exploring every possibility regarding the issue of negotiations and the return of hostages."

Egypt's Al-Qahera News TV channel, citing a high-ranking security source, reported that the Egyptian side is intensifying communication with both sides to achieve calm before enforcing its three-stage proposal.

A Hamas delegation has headed to Cairo to work on enforcing the Egyptian proposal, an Egyptian security source told Xinhua on Monday.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that the proposal approved by Hamas is far from meeting Israel's core demands and Israel will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.

However, earlier in the day, Israel's war cabinet approved the launch of a ground offensive on Rafah that would take place after the evacuation of the civil population, which, according to the Israeli military, began in the morning.

Israel considers Rafah the last major stronghold of Hamas in Gaza. Located on the southernmost edge of the strip, Rafah shelters more than one million Palestinians uprooted by the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

Qatar, Egypt, and the United States are seeking to reach a deal for a prisoner exchange and a second ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following the first one that ended last November.