A senior Egyptian official told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper on Tuesday that Cairo offered a humanitarian ceasefire for the duration of the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which will begin on Wednesday this week, regardless of an overall agreement between the parties.

The official added that Egypt expects to receive the responses of Israel and Hamas, but is pessimistic because both sides are in no rush to provide their response.

The Egyptian source added that the current round of negotiations in Cairo is no different from the previous ones, and both sides are sticking to their position without showing any flexibility or willingness to make concessions.

He noted that there was optimism only on the part of the US and Egypt during the talks, and that further talks regarding a ceasefire agreement are scheduled to take place on Thursday, the second day of Eid al-Fitr.

Basem Naim, a senior member of Hamas, claimed in a conversation with the newspaper that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in reaching an agreement and ending the war and is trying to defend himself against the day after the war.

"Netanyahu is working to get out of the international and internal pressure he is under by sending the negotiating team and presenting new position documents in which there is no significant change in Israel's positions, and sometimes by trying to expand the war into a regional war," claimed Naim.