Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, arrived in Cairo on Wednesday with a delegation of Hamas leaders to discuss ways to cease fire in the Gaza Strip and implement a prisoner exchange deal with Israel.
Agence France-Presse quoted a source in Hamas as saying that Haniyeh and members of his accompanying delegation will hold several meetings in Cairo, the most prominent of which is a meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
According to the source, the discussions will deal with “stopping the aggression and war in preparation for a prisoner exchange deal, ending the siege on the Gaza Strip, the entry of aid, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Strip, and the return of the displaced to their cities and villages in Gaza and the northern Gaza Strip.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday that a Hamas delegation will visit Cairo in the coming days, and the delegation will include senior members of the Hamas leadership living outside the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper quoted informed Israeli sources as saying that Tel Aviv was determined to achieve a breakthrough in the talks, although it knew it would pay a heavy price.
This is the second visit of Ismail Haniyeh to Egypt since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on the seventh of last October, as he made a previous visit to Cairo in November.