By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Negotiations between Israel and Hamas on the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire began in Cairo Thursday amid mounting concerns the truce will collapse.
Thursday’s talks in Egypt’s capital came on the day that a well-informed Israeli source revealed that “Israel does not intend” to withdraw from a strategic corridor in Gaza in the coming days.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel was due to start pulling its soldiers out of the Philadelphi Corridor, an 8.6-mile-wide (14 kilometers) strip of land by Gaza’s border with Egypt, on Saturday.
The unnamed Israeli official said on Thursday that the Jewish nation’s army would remain there to prevent weapons smuggling by Hamas, despite objections from Hamas and Egypt.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, suggested Israel’s military presence remains necessary there as he recently saw smuggling tunnels there. However, Egypt claims it destroyed such tunnels years ago and that it has prevented smuggling through a military buffer zone.
Hamas has said any Israeli attempt to stay in the corridor would be a “blatant violation” of a ceasefire agreement, which took hold in January.
However, both sides still showed readiness to adhere to other terms of the ceasefire, with Hamas releasing the remains of four hostages in exchange for over 600 Palestinian prisoners.
DOZENS REMAINING
According to Israel, there are 59 remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, 24 of whom are still believed to be alive.
At Thursday’s talks, officials from Israel, Qatar, and the United States started “intensive discussions” on the ceasefire’s second phase in Cairo, Egypt‘s state information service said.
Observers said it would be difficult to reconcile a deal with the war objectives of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for dismantling Hamas’ governing and military capabilities.
Despite suffering heavy losses in the war, Hamas has still emerged as a force during the ceasefire, and the group says it will not give up its weapons.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to visit the region in the coming days.
He seeks to help end a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, including many Hamas fighters as well as civilians used as human shields by the group, officials say.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
President Donald Trump abruptly reversed himself Sunday night, announcing that he now supports House Republicans voting to release the long-sought Epstein files—just days after blasting several GOP lawmakers for pushing the effort.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agree to take up a case that could have an effect on the 2026 midterm elections.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday issued his strongest public denunciation yet of extremist settler violence in Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank), promising “very forceful action” amid a sharp rise in attacks that has drawn concern from Israeli security officials, international partners, and Washington.
In the immediate aftermath of Democrats losing the budget showdown that plunged Washington into a weeks-long government shutdown, House Republicans say the Left is now scrambling for a distraction — reviving the long-dormant fight over the Jeffrey Epstein files in what GOP leaders call a transparently political maneuver to wound President Donald Trump.
Iranian authorities have begun large-scale cloud-seeding operations in a desperate bid to generate rainfall as the country confronts its most severe drought in decades, state media reported over the weekend.
President Donald Trump is expected to finalize a landmark agreement with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that would allow Riyadh to acquire advanced U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets—part of a sweeping package of economic, defense, and normalization initiatives set to be unveiled at the White House this week.
In a historic and unprecedented step, Israel has begun pumping desalinated Mediterranean water into the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret), marking the first time anywhere in the world that processed seawater is being used to replenish a natural freshwater lake. The initiative comes as the iconic biblical lake continues to suffer from years of drought, falling rainfall, and declining spring flow.