Cairo   -   Negotiators geared up for a crucial weekend of truce talks Saturday, as Hamas said it was sending delegates to Cairo, but that they would not participate, and Israel continued to bombard Gaza targets. The war, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, has devastated the Palestinian territory, displaced nearly all of its population at least once and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker an end to more than 10 months of war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.

The White House said Friday that progress had been made at the latest round this week, although the possible permanent presence of Israeli troops along the Gaza-Egypt border has emerged as a major sticking point.

Previous bouts of optimism during months of on-off ceasefire and hostage release negotiations have always proven unfounded.

A senior Hamas official said a delegation from the Palestinian militant group was heading to Cairo, but that they would not engage in the talks. Instead, they would meet with senior Egyptian officials for updates on the negotiations.

The delegation would “be briefed... but this does not mean it will take part in the negotiations”, the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Hamas has said from the beginning that it will not participate in this round of negotiations.”

The official said Hamas will insist Israel withdraw all its forces from all of Gaza, including “from the border area with Egypt”, known as the Philadelphi Corridor.