Cairo/Gaza: A delegation of members from Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad arrived in Cairo on Sunday for indirect ceasefire talks with Israel, to be conducted through Egyptian and US officials, Egyptian sources said.
Truce talks would include Hamas’ demand that Egypt ease movement across its border with blockaded Gaza. Israel said on Saturday that it would not send envoys as scheduled, accusing enemy Palestinian Islamists of misleading international mediators.
A US/UN-brokered ceasefire proposal broke down within hours on Friday, with Israel and Hamas trading blame. Members of the Palestinian Authority, which rules the West Bank, arrived in Cairo on Saturday.
US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair had also flown to Cairo for negotiations, the sources said.
Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and like Israel opposes Hamas, has positioned itself as a mediator for the Gaza conflict.
Israel began its air and naval offensive against Gaza on July 8th, following what it said was a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other guerrillas, and it later escalated into ground incursions.
Palestinian officials say 1,675 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza. Israel has confirmed that 64 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian shelling has also killed three civilians in Israel.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian official said that a comprehensive national delegation that includes the majority of Palestinian factions headed to Egypt’s capital Saturday to negotiate a long-term Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire.
Since the violence erupted, regional and international powers have exerted unremitting efforts to end the ongoing fighting between Israel and Palestinian factions.
However, a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire collapsed only hours after it came into force in the early hours of Friday as Israeli military said two of its soldiers were killed. and a third went missing. (IANS)
