GAZA STRIP (AFP) – A senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group was sending a delegation to Cairo on Saturday but that they would not attend Gaza ceasefire talks in the Egyptian capital.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have for months tried to reach a deal to end more than 10 months of war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.
“The delegation will meet with senior Egyptian intelligence officials to be briefed on developments in the ongoing round of Gaza ceasefire talks… but this does not mean it will take part in the negotiations,” the Hamas official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk publicly on the issue.
“Hamas has said from the beginning that it will not participate in this round of negotiations, which began last week in Doha.”
Hamas’s decision to send a delegation to Cairo comes after the United States said progress had been made at the latest round of talks.
Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded, and this time Israel’s insistence on keeping troops on the Egyptian border has emerged as a key sticking point.
The Hamas official said the group insisted that Israel withdraws its forces from across Gaza, including “from the border area with Egypt” – a zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted on keeping the troops along the corridor between Egypt and Gaza.
On Friday, the White House said CIA chief William Burns was among US officials taking part in the discussions in Cairo, joining the heads of Israel’s spy agency and security service.
“The discussions are taking place in Cairo… in preparation for an enlarged round of negotiations which will begin on Sunday,” an Egyptian source close to negotiations told AFP on Friday.
“Washington is discussing with mediators’ new proposals to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas and for mechanisms to implement” the plan.
