12/20/2023–|Last updated: 12/20/202311:42 AM (Mecca time)
Head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Cairo on Wednesday at the head of a delegation of the movement’s leaders, to discuss a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners with Israel.
The French news agency quoted a source in the movement as saying that Haniyeh and members of the delegation accompanying him will hold several meetings there, most notably with the director of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel.
According to the source, the discussions will address “stopping the aggression and war in preparation for a prisoner exchange deal, ending the siege on the Gaza Strip, introducing aid, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, and the return of the displaced to their cities and villages in Gaza and the northern Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported yesterday, Tuesday, that a delegation from the Hamas movement would visit Cairo in the coming days, and that the delegation would include senior members of its leadership residing outside the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper quoted informed Israeli sources as saying that Tel Aviv is determined to achieve a breakthrough in the talks, despite knowing that it will pay a heavy price.
This will be Haniyeh’s second visit to Egypt since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, after his visit to Cairo on November 9.
The visit coincides with what was reported by the Israeli Walla website that Israel informed Qatar of its readiness for a ceasefire for a week in exchange for the release of 40 Israeli detainees held by Hamas in Gaza, while Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, the Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Hamas requires stopping the war before… Any exchange transaction.
The American news website Axios reported that the Qatari Prime Minister held discussions in Europe with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, and the Director of the Israeli Intelligence Service (Mossad), David Barnea, aiming to hold new negotiations for the release of hostages.
Egypt and Qatar mediated an eight-day truce in late November, during which 80 Israeli detainees were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, captured about 250 Israelis in the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, about 129 of whom are still with the resistance. Hamas and the resistance factions are demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held by the Israeli occupation.