ISTANBUL

Egypt has proposed a Gaza cease-fire to facilitate a potential exchange of hostages and prisoners, aiming to build towards a longer-term truce, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced Sunday.

“We proposed a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip for two days to exchange four hostages (Israeli) for some prisoners (Palestinian), and then negotiations will take place over ten days to turn the cease-fire into a permanent truce,” Al-Sisi said during a joint press conference with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Cairo.

The Algerian president voiced strong support for Egypt’s initiative, backing Al-Sisi’s efforts to establish calm in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel estimates that around 101 of its citizens are still held captive by the Hamas group in Gaza, with concerns that some may have already been killed in Israel’s indiscriminate airstrikes across the densely populated area.

Efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to secure a cease-fire and facilitate a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas have so far stalled, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to consider ending the conflict.

The Israeli army has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 43,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 100,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the territory’s entire population amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.