Senior Hamas delegation, during a visit to Cairo, rejects appeals by Egypt and the US to maintain calm vis-à-vis Israel.
Dalit Halevi
A delegation of the Hamas terrorist organization, led by Ismail Haniyeh, concluded a round of talks in Cairo with the head of Egyptian intelligence, which took place after similar talks with a delegation of the leadership of the Islamic Jihad.
Hamas officials told the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, that Haniyeh told his hosts that his organization did not intend to work to calm the situation, and demanded that Egypt pressure Israel to stop what he defined as “provocations against the Palestinians.”
The Egyptians told Hamas that there is an American and international desire to maintain calm in the Judea and Samaria area, and that the Biden administration is exerting pressure on the Netanyahu government to prevent it from taking steps that would lead to “the explosion of the situation and the outbreak of a new intifada.”
The newspaper also stated that on this basis, Egypt asked Hamas to respond in the affirmative to the current US proposal and stop the terrorist attacks – but Hamas did not agree and claimed in response: “We will not sit idly by in view of the actions of the two extremist ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.”
On the issue of the return of IDF soldiers and missing Israelis being held by Hamas in exchange for the release of terrorists, the terrorist organization said that the completion of the negotiations on this issue would be a helpful factor in achieving calm, while increasing the pressure on the terrorists could lead to escalation.
Content retrieved from: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367236.