Representatives from Palestinian militant group Hamas and mediator Qatar left the Egyptian capital on Thursday after talks seeking a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, sources at the Cairo airport said.

There was no immediate word on the outcome of the latest round of negotiations, although reports of the departures sparked concerns for the prospects for an agreement.

Hamas confirmed its team’s departure from Cairo heading for Doha, where the group’s political bureau is based.

“We in the Hamas movement affirm our commitment and adherence to our position by agreeing to the paper presented by the mediators,” Izzat al-Risheq, a member of of Hamas' Political Bureau, said without giving details.

The top US intelligence officer also departed from Cairo, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

CIA chief William Burns this week launched a whirlwind shuttle diplomacy mission, travelling between Egypt, Qatar and Israel to advance the talks aimed to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

"His departure does not connote the end of the current round of negotiations," Kirby said.

The talks had continued Thursday with attendance of all the parties concerned, Egypt’s state-affiliated TV station al-Qahera News reported.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

The broadcaster quoted what it termed as an Egyptian high-level source, who said Egypt had renewed its warning to participants against the “danger of escalation” if negotiations failed to clinch a deal.

Israel and Hamas do not negotiate directly, so the US, Qatar and Egypt are acting as mediators, attempting to halt the conflict that has led to the deaths of nearly 35,000 people in the coastal strip.

The Palestinian territory has been the target of a massive Israeli air and ground offensive since the October 7 terrorist attacks led by Hamas, which killed 1,200 in southern Israel. Hamas took around 250 people hostage, some of whom have been released. It is unclear how many of the remaining hostages are still alive.

In Israel, there was further comment on US President Joe Biden's threat of an arms freeze in the event of a further advance in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X on that Hamas loves Biden, using a red heart emoji. Later, the Israeli president and opposition politicians criticized Ben-Gvir for endangering Israel with such statements.

In an interview with broadcaster CNN, Biden had said that the United States would not supply the weapons for a full-scale invasion of Rafah, which is overcrowded with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

The US government had already decided last week to withheld a delivery of ammunition because of Israel's actions in Rafah.

US media reported that the delivery comprised 3,500 bombs, including 2,000-pound bombs.

According to analysts, Israel is using these in the fight against Hamas, for example to destroy the Islamists' underground tunnels.

Senior Israeli officials have expressed "deep frustration" over the withheld delivery and warned that it could jeopardize indirect negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of hostages, two informed sources told the Axios news portal.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X: "Israel will continue to fight Hamas until its destruction. There is no war more just than this."

Since the Israeli army took over the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Monday, around 80,000 people have fled the city, which is overcrowded with refugees, according to UN figures.

Israel expanded its presence on Tuesday by sending troops to the eastern side of Rafah.

"The toll on these families is unbearable. Nowhere is safe," the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians in the Near East or UNRWA said on X, adding: "We need a #CeasefireNOW."

Amid catastrophic humanitarian circumstances in Gaza, a freighter carrying hundreds of tons of aid for the civilian population departed from the Cypriot port of Larnaca bound for a US-built floating pier off Gaza.

The Sagamore was transporting urgently needed aid from the United States, Britain and Cyprus and would soon arrive in Gaza, Cypriot government spokesman Giannis Antoniou said on the radio.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

"By the time the freighter arrives (in Gaza), the pier that the US is building will also be ready," he added.

US troops are expected to complete a temporary harbour off Gaza to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid on Thursday, as Gaza has no ports deep enough to allow larger freighters carrying aid to dock.

The conflict also raged on along Israel's northern border, with an Israeli strike on a car in southern Lebanon killing at least four people, Lebanese civil defence and security sources said.

The attack set the car ablaze on a road in the town of Baflieh in south Lebanon.

Hezbollah announced that death of three of its fighters. It added that a fourth was seriously wounded.

The militia usually does not elaborate on when, where and how its fighters die.

The Israeli military did not comment on the incident when asked, though said a 20-year-old soldier was killed in "actions in northern Israel" the day before.

Later on Thursday, Hezbollah claimed they attacked two Israeli posts close to the Lebanese border.

‘Gaps’ between Israel and Hamas that are blocking Gaza ceasefire

Israeli soldiers on exerecise in the Golan Heights -

Israel and Hamas have rejected each other’s proposals for a ceasefire and hostages deal.

Hamas unexpectedly signed a version of the deal on Monday, but it contained amendments to which Israel had previously not agreed.

However, the White House said there were only “gaps” in two sides’ positions – and they could be bridged.

An Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo for talks on Wednesday. Here are the key sticking points.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

End of war

Hamas has rejected previous drafts of a ceasefire deal as it offered only a limited ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have died since October.

Israel blocked attempts to add caveats allowing for a lasting truce, as the Israeli leadership insisted that the IDF’s operation in Gaza should continue until a “total victory” over Hamas has been achieved.

As the prospects of such a victory became elusive, Israel last month agreed to a draft deal that would allow a six-week ceasefire, accompanied by a partial withdrawal of its troops. The second stage of the ceasefire then talks about creating “conditions for a sustainable calm”.

The vague phrasing left room for interpretation and could have potentially allowed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get it past his hard-Right allies in the government.

But the proposal that Hamas signed on to on Monday described a permanent end to hostilities and the IDF’s complete withdrawal from Gaza, to which no one in the Israeli government is prepared to agree.

Hostage release

Israel has blocked previous ceasefire deals while it demanded that Hamas provide a full list of hostages, some of whom they suspected were already dead.

Hamas insisted it needed a ceasefire in place first in order to locate and identify each hostage. Several Israelis appear to have been abducted by mobs that followed Hamas fighters from Gaza in the chaos of the Oct 7 attack.

Israel most recently agreed to lower the number of vulnerable hostages to be released in the first stage of a ceasefire, from 40 to 33 after Hamas claimed it did not have that many female, underage, elderly or wounded hostages to set free.

Under the proposal approved by Hamas on Monday the dead bodies of some of the women and children could be included in the first hostage release.

Get AfriPrime Android Web View app....Click the link to Amazon app store to download https://rb.gy/3xek46

Palestinian prisoners

Under the first and only hostage deal that came through in November, Israel released some 150 women and children from Israeli prisons, none of whom were jailed for violent crimes.

The latest proposal put forward by Israel offers a gradual release of more Palestinian prisoners depending on the release of the Israeli hostages.

Israel committed to free 20 prisoners aged over 50 serving short sentences for every vulnerable hostage and 20 prisoners serving life for every female soldier released.

Hamas, however, is seeking higher-profile prisoners including those convicted of terrorism. Hamas demanded that at least 30 of 400 in total would be serving life sentences for terrorism charges.

The deal put forward by the Israelis provided for a veto on the identities of the Palestinian prisoners.

The possibility of a veto was removed by Hamas from the draft it adopted on Monday.