Egypt scrambles to save the Gaza ceasefire
Cairo has summoned a senior Hamas delegation for urgent talks as Israel widens its military control over Gaza and revives a plan to relocate Palestinians.
- Egypt has summoned a senior Hamas delegation, led by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, for urgent talks to save the ceasefire.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to widen its control from 53 to 70 per cent of Gaza's territory.
- At least 141 Palestinians have been killed in the past two weeks, and at least 929 since the October ceasefire.
- Cairo has appealed to Washington, asking President Donald Trump to rein in Netanyahu.
Egypt has summoned a senior Hamas delegation, led by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, for urgent talks in Cairo in an effort to save a Gaza ceasefire that is sliding ever faster towards collapse. The diplomatic push comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to widen its control of the territory from 53 to 70 per cent, a move that would leave Cairo and its interlocutors with almost no room to mediate.
For Serbia and the wider European neighbourhood, the unravelling of this truce is not a distant story. A fresh escalation in the Middle East presses on migration flows towards southern Europe, pushes up energy prices, and adds further strain to an already tense transatlantic relationship at a moment when Brussels is trying to hold a united line on the region.
What exactly is Egypt asking for?
Cairo has at the same time appealed to officials in the United States, asking President Donald Trump to rein in Netanyahu and halt the expansion of the military operation. The Egyptian calculation is straightforward: without American pressure on Tel Aviv, the mediation channel that Egypt has maintained for decades loses all weight, and the Hamas delegation arrives at the table with ever fewer reasons to make concessions.
Alongside the order to widen control, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has revived a draft on the so-called voluntary migration of Palestinians. The plan has already drawn sharp reactions across the Arab world and among European member states, since critics see it as an attempt at the permanent displacement of Gaza’s population under a diplomatically polished name.
What has the ceasefire already cost?
The figures show that the ceasefire exists largely on paper. At least 141 Palestinians have been killed in the past two weeks, while at least 929 people have lost their lives since the October ceasefire. Every new wave of violence further narrows the space for Egyptian mediators and makes a return to the negotiating table harder.
The Cairo talks with Khalil al-Hayya’s delegation thus become a test of whether classic Middle Eastern diplomacy, resting on the Egyptian channel and American pressure, can still halt the military logic on the ground. The outcome will decide whether the coming days bring talk of a renewed truce or of a new phase of war.
Can classic diplomacy still stop the escalation in Gaza, or has the initiative finally passed to the battlefield?
