Hamas official in Cairo for Gaza truce talks: Palestinians

A Hamas official was to hold talks in Cairo on Wednesday in Egyptian efforts to end the deadly conflict between his Gaza-based Islamist movement and Israel, the Palestinians said. Hamas rejected a ceasefire proposal which Egypt put forward this week, complaining it had not been a party to the discussions.

 ‘A meeting will be held this afternoon between an official from Hamas and a representative of the Egyptian leadership,’ said Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior member of the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Abbas himself later arrived in Cairo to join the diplomatic efforts to end the Gaza conflict in which 213 Palestinians have been killed since 8 July. Ahmad’s remarks came as Middle East peace Quartet envoy Tony Blair held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, on his second visit to Cairo in a week to discuss the Gaza conflict. AFP