Senior Egyptian sources reported on Thursday that Egypt conducted talks with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in an attempt to achieve a truce agreement with Israel.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources stated that the talks were held on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing.
Hamas official Jamal Abu Hashim and Khalid Al Batsh of the Islamic Jihad attended the talks, while Mohammad Ibrahim, an aide to the Egyptian Intelligence Chief, Omar Suleiman, represented Egypt.
Hamas delegates demanded Egypt to release a Hamas leader who was arrested by Egypt, Israeli online daily Haaretz reported.
Haaretz added that the detained Hamas leader, Ayman Nofal, is accused of planning suicide attacks in Egypt.
Hamas movement said that ceasefire requires Israel to stop its assaults in the Gaza Strip and to reopen all border crossing. Hamas added that any truce agreement must include ending all Israeli attacks in the West Bank.
The movement also demands to be in control of the Gaza Strip crossing, while Israel totally rejects this demand.
Egypt recently freed 33 Hamas fighters who were arrested by the Egyptian Border Police after breaching the border wall in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, in protest to the ongoing siege over the Gaza Strip.
More than a 118 patients died in Gaza Strip hospitals as the siege emptied the hospitals from the basic medical supplies and equipment while Israel refuses to allow the transfers of patients to its hospitals or to Egyptian hospitals.
The Israeli government tightened its siege over the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and closed all border terminals leaving more than 1.5 Palestinians imprisoned in the coastal region.
