Jerusalem:A round of high-level talks in Cairo meant to bring about a cease-fire and hostage deal to at least temporarily end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza ended Sunday without a final agreement, a US official said. But talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days to bridge the remaining gaps.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, said lower-level working teams will remain in Cairo to meet with mediators of the US, Qatar, and Egypt in hopes of addressing remaining disagreements. The official called the recent conversations, which began Thursday in Cairo and continued through Sunday, as constructive and said all parties were working to reach a final and implementable agreement.
The talks included CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. A Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not directly take part in negotiations.
The development came after Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah traded heavy fire early Sunday but backed off from sparking a widely feared all-out war, as both sides signalled their most intense exchange in months was over.
Hezbollah claimed to hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv as part of a barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones, and Israel claimed its dozens of strikes had been preemptive to avert a larger attack. Neither offered evidence.