What we know about the state of negotiations as Israel skips ceasefire talks

On Sunday, Israel decided not to send a delegation to Egypt for talks on a deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages from Gaza, an Israeli official told CNN.

The official said the reason was that Hamas had not responded to two Israeli demands:

• a list of hostages, specifying which are alive and which are dead
• confirmation of the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages

Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for the talks, a senior Hamas source told CNN, where negotiators from the US, Israel and Egypt were also expected to attend.

For Hamas' part, it said that without Israel agreeing to a permanent ceasefire, it will not agree to a deal over hostages, a highly placed source in the militant group told CNN on Sunday.

At least three sticking points remain before Hamas will agree on a deal, the source said. These are:

• A permanent ceasefire
• The withdrawal of what the source called “occupation forces” — that is, Israeli troops — from the Gaza Strip
• The return of displaced people from the south to the north of the strip

Distancing from US optimism: On Saturday, a senior official in US President Joe Biden's administration told reporters Israel had “basically accepted” a six-week ceasefire proposal in Gaza and was waiting on reply from Hamas.

Negotiators said they were pushing to get the deal done in time for the start of Ramadan, which begins a week from today. Biden had even told reporters earlier in the week that he hoped there would be a ceasefire by "next Monday," referring to tomorrow.

But officials from Israel, Hamas and Qatar had cautioned against Biden’s optimism that a deal could be reached that soon, suggesting that differences remained.