Egyptian officials are planning to visit Tel Aviv to hold talks on maintaining the ceasefire with the Hamas movement, and other resistance factions in the Gaza Strip, and Israel’s siege on the coastal region.The Maan News Agency reported that the Egyptian delegation will demand Israel to allow the entry of commercial goods into the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border terminal between Gaza and Egypt
It added that Egypt’s President, Mohammad Morsi, held talks with Tel Aviv through officials of the Egyptian National Security Service.
The officials said that Israel agreed to allow the entry of construction materials sent by Qatar despite the fact that this matter has been repeatedly rejected by Tel Aviv, an issue that indicates that Cairo and Tel Aviv have been engaged in talks behind closed doors.
Furthermore, Maan said that Israeli officials arrived in Cairo, Sunday, and held talks with their Egyptian counterparts for the second time in one week.
It added that Khaled Al-Hayya, a senior political leader of the Hamas movement, stated that the movement is holding indirect talks with Tel Aviv to ensure the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement that was brokered by Egypt last November.
Al-Hayya denied Israeli reports that claimed that Israel and Hamas have been negotiating for weeks, and said that the indirect talks are regarding the full implementation of all articles included in the seize-fire agreement that ended the eight-day Israeli war on Gaza.
Israeli TV, Channel 2, reported that the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas also aim at ensuring the entry of construction materials, donated by Qatar, and allowing of export of Gaza’s agricultural products.
According to Maan, Egypt’s President, Mohammad Morsi, opened several channels with Israel through the Egyptian Intelligence, and that all Egyptian demands regarding easing the restrictions on Gaza have been accepted by Tel Aviv.
During the 8-day war in November of last year, Israeli missiles and shells killed 191 Palestinians, including children, women and elderly, while at least 1492 Palestinians have been injured, dozens seriously. 48 children, including 16 under the age of five, have been killed by Israeli missiles and shells, in addition to 12 women and 20 elderly.
1492 Palestinians, including 533 children (195 under the age of 5), 254 women and 103 elderly have been injured by Israeli fire and shells.
