Israel has ‘basically signed on’ to a ceasefire, US official says

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Israel has “basically signed on” to a six-week ceasefire that would be used to facilitate a second round of swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, a senior US administration official said.

Several hurdles remain before any deal can be agreed, though, including the hostage-to-prisoner ratio that Hamas and Israel agree and a long-standing Hamas demand that a permanent ceasefire come into place after almost five months of war between the Jewish state and the Palestinian militant group.

In a sign of the process’s sluggish progress, an Arab diplomat said on Saturday that further technical negotiations could take place in Cairo as early as Sunday. An Israeli official said it was awaiting confirmation of how many hostages remain alive, and the identities of those Hamas is willing to release, before sending a delegation to Cairo.

“The ball is in the court of Hamas,” the US official said. “There will be a six-week ceasefire in Gaza starting today if Hamas agrees to release the defined category of vulnerable hostages . . . the sick, the wounded, elderly and women.”

Talks have been complicated by a vague announcement by Hamas on Friday that as many as 70 of the 130 or so hostages it is said to be holding had been killed by Israeli air strikes and shelling.

If confirmed, that is almost twice the Israeli estimate for how many hostages remain alive, and sharply changes the contours of the negotiations.

Israel declared war on the Islamist group after a cross-border raid by Hamas on October 7, where 1,200 people were killed and about 240 — including soldiers and civilians — were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

More than 100, including some foreigners, were released in a swap in late November, which also took place under the cover of a ceasefire, accompanied by a surge in humanitarian aid.

Israel’s…