Negotiations involving multiple countries and high-level delegations on a Gaza ceasefire deal have entered a second day in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, as mediators struggle to make progress in the face of a threatened Israeli offensive on Rafah, the Palestinian territory’s last place of relative safety.
Representatives for the Palestinian militant group Hamas were expected in Cairo on Wednesday, and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, arrived on his first visit to Egypt after more than a decade of tensions between the regional powers over support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
On Tuesday Israel made a last-minute decision to send a delegation led by its heads of intelligence, David Barnea of the Mossad and Ronen Bar of the Shin Bet, which met US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said: “If war plans foresee the evacuation of the population in advance of such hostilities, it is critical that they account for the reality of massive numbers of people moving across bomb-damaged roads, past the rubble of destroyed buildings and through areas contaminated by unexploded weapons.
Across the region there is a palpable fear that time is running out to broker a truce that would bring much-needed relief to the besieged territory’s 2.3 million people, return the estimated 130 Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity to their loved ones, and prevent the war from escalating into a wider conflict.
In a post on Instagram showing a steady stream of people leaving the medical complex on Wednesday, Dr Khaled al-Serr, a surgeon at Nasser, said: “I am writing this with tears and disappointment … My heart is broken, I did not feel [this] sadness when the Israeli army bombed my house.
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