Rhino: Agencies – The White House said on Friday that talks hosted by Cairo aimed at reaching a ceasefire in Gaza are ‘constructive’ and some progress has been made, adding that all parties must reach a point of agreement to work towards implementing a proposed agreement.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the talks will continue on Friday with CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk representing Washington.

Kirby added that Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) militants should be included in the negotiations, which on Thursday included negotiators from Israel, the US, Egypt and Qatar.

‘We’re in Cairo. They are in Cairo. We need Hamas to participate, and we need to start discussing the basic aspects of these details. That’s what we’re going to focus on here in the next couple of days,’ he said.

Kirby said initial indications in Cairo were that the talks were ‘constructive’ and that they were set to continue.

‘Things are progressing,’ he said, denying some news reports that the talks were on the verge of collapse.