U.S. and Israeli officials say negotiations over the finer details of a deal with Hamas should continue even if they reach an understanding on the framework of the deal for a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Therefore, a final agreement is expected to take a few more days to be negotiated. Officials from Hamas and the CIA, the US intelligence agency, were sent to Cairo, Egypt, for meetings on the ceasefire.
Negotiators have made progress on the technical aspects of a potential deal, but two Israeli sources say it could take a week to finalize the deal itself.
A US official reinforced this point this Saturday (4), highlighting that even if Hamas accepts the agreement as proposed, it would take a few more days to iron out some of the details that would eventually result in a truce.
These discussions can also be difficult and prolonged. Even as U.S. officials continue to approach the meetings with cautious optimism, describing progress, they are still aware that previous efforts at a truce collapsed at the last minute.
While Hamas met with mediators in Cairo this Saturday, the director of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, David Barnea, remained in the Middle Eastern country.
Still, Israeli sources said he could quickly go to Egypt if Hamas agreed to the structure of the deal.
CIA Director Bill Burns, who served as a key U.S. interlocutor in the negotiations, is in Cairo, a person familiar with the matter said.
A CNN sought other mediators in the negotiations, but has not received any response so far.
*MJ Lee, Alex Marquardt, Kareem Khadder, Mostafa Salem and Eve Brennan, from CNN, contributed to this report
Source: CNN Brasil
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