The leader of Hamas arrived in Cairo this Wednesday to hold talks on the situation in the Gaza Strip, the group declared, as Israel and the Islamist movement give signs favorable to a new truce in the war.
Ismail Haniya, who lives in Qatar, arrived in Cairo “to discuss with the Egyptian authorities the development of Zionist aggression in the Gaza Strip and many other issues,” Hamas said in a statement.
On Tuesday, a source from the Islamist group told the AFP agency that Haniya planned to meet with the head of the Egyptian intelligence services, Abbas Kamel, with the aim of discussing “the end of the aggression and the war, the preparation of a prisoner release agreement and the end of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.”
A source from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group told AFP on Wednesday that the leader of this armed movement, the second largest in the Gaza Strip, Ziyad al Nakhala, would also travel to Cairo early next week.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared Tuesday that Israel was “prepared for a new pause and additional humanitarian aid intended to allow the release of the Israeli hostages.”
During a meeting with the hostages’ families on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained that he had recently sent “the head of the Mossad [serviços de informação de Israel] to Europe, twice, to promote a liberation process”.
Egypt and Qatar contributed to negotiations that led to a week-long truce in late November, during which 80 Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip were exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israel.
Before arriving in Cairo, Ismail Haniya met in Doha, the capital of Qatar, with the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, according to images released by Tehran.
After the Hamas attack on October 7, with more than 1,200 dead and more than 240 kidnapped, Israel declared war on the Islamist movement and launched a military offensive by land, sea and air in the enclave.
The operation has already caused more than 19,600 deaths, mostly civilians, and 52,500 injured according to the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, and around 1.9 million displaced people, according to the UN.
Source: TSF
