The president of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Saturday reported some movement in the arduous Middle East negotiations over releasing the hostages kidnapped from Israel on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group in Gaza.
"There is some movement in the talks about the hostages and a possible way out of the impasse we are in," Børge Brende said in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia is hosting a WEF business conference in Riyadh on Sunday and Monday. Parallel to this, foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan will meet on Monday in Riyadh with their US, German, British, French and Italian counterparts, the diplomatic sources said.
Brende said Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan had assembled a "good group."
The "main players" include US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who would visit Riyadh on his way from China and before a return visit to Israel.
Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, whose country is mediating between the Islamist Hamas and Israel together with Egypt and the United States. Israel will not be attending, Brende said.
On Saturday, Arab foreign ministers wanted to find a "united Arab position" in advance of the meeting and also consult with a representative of the Palestinian Authority - presumably Abbas.
However, it was reported that Abbas would not be attending the ministerial meeting with the Western countries, though a Palestinian Authority representative will meet on Saturday to formulate a "unified Arab stance" ahead of the Monday meeting, the sources told dpa on condition of anonymity.
The Palestinian official will not attend the talks with the top Western diplomats, the sources added.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry travelled on Saturday to Riyadh, sources at Cairo airport said.
Brende's comments came as a top Hamas official said on Saturday that the Islamist militant group is studying an Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, as a ground assault on the city of Rafah looms.
"Hamas will examine this proposal and submit a response," Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy head of the group's political arm in Gaza, said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Khalil said the Israeli side was responding to a proposal Hamas had presented to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13. The talks have been deadlocked for months.
The talks come as Israel's preparations for a large-scale ground offensive on Rafah - the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip and the territory's last Hamas stronghold - is reportedly putting pressure on the group.
US media outlet Axios reported, citing two senior Israeli officials, that Israel had warned Egypt that this would be the "last chance" to strike a deal before its Rafah operations begin.
Axios and Israeli media reported that Hamas and Israel are at loggerheads over the scope of the deal, including how many hostages could be released and how long the ceasefire would last. Hamas is demanding a permanent ceasefire, which Israel rejects.
Israel's allies and critics have for months implored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off the invasion of Rafah, fearing mass civilian casualties. More than a million displaced Palestinians from other parts of the Gaza Strip have taken shelter there.
The Hamas-controlled health authority put the number of people killed in Gaza at 34,388 on Saturday, 32 more than the previous day. More than 77,400 people have been injured. The authority does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
The Israeli army said on Saturday that it had carried out more airstrikes overnight against Hamas targets, including a launch pad for rockets in Khan Younis and a vehicle carrying eight Hamas fighters.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people by militants from Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7.
