Talks in Cairo towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal have progressed, Egyptian state-linked media reported on Monday, more than half a year into Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave. Al-Qahera reported “significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement”, citing an unnamed high-ranking Egyptian source. The news outlet said Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return “within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement”. US and Israeli delegations were also due to leave the Egyptian capital “in the next few hours” for consultatio…