“Hamas refuses to give clear answers, so there is no point in sending an Israeli delegation,” the article said.

Washington insists a ceasefire is close and should take effect before the start of Ramadan, a week from now.

After the Hamas delegation arrived, a Palestinian official told Reuters that the deal was “not yet under review.” The Israeli side did not officially confirm the arrival of its delegation.

This was reported by a source familiar with the negotiations. Saturday that Israel might not go to Cairo unless Hamas first produced a full list of hostages still alive – a demand that Hamas has so far rejected as premature, according to a Palestinian source.

In previous negotiations, Hamas tried to avoid discussing the welfare of individual hostages until conditions were in place for their release.

However, a US official told reporters: “The path to a ceasefire right now, literally right now, is simple. The agreement is already on the table. “There is a framework agreement.”

The agreement will be the first long truce in a war that has now lasted five months, plus a week-long pause in November. Dozens of hostages held by militants will be released in exchange for hundreds of detained Palestinians.

Aid to the besieged Gaza Strip will be increased to save the lives of Palestinians on the brink of famine. Fighting will end in time to prevent a massive Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gazan’s 2.3 million residents are massed at the enclave’s border fence.

Israeli troops will withdraw from some areas and allow Gazans to return to their homes abandoned during the war.

However, the agreement does not satisfy Hamas’s main demand for a permanent end to the war and will leave the fate of more than half of the more than 100 hostages left, including Israeli men of fighting age.

Egyptian mediators suggested that these issues could be put aside for now, assuring that they would be resolved at a later stage. A Hamas source told Reuters the militants were still waiting for a “comprehensive agreement.” (Reuters).