Hamas starts Egypt talks in effort to ‘compel’ Jerusalem to abide by Gaza roadmap

The American delegation is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials in Israel before traveling to Cairo.

By JNS

A Hamas delegation began talks in Egypt on Sunday to probe alternative ways of advancing Washington’s 15-point roadmap for Gaza, a Hamas official told AFP.

The terrorist organization’s delegation arrived in Egypt on Saturday evening, ahead of a visit to the region by U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner later this week.

The unnamed source was quoted as saying that talks would cover “the latest developments in the negotiations and the efforts being made to compel Israel to abide by the agreement,” apparently referring to previous Hamas statements that it would start handing its arms to a technocratic Palestinian body only after the Israel Defense Forces leave the Gaza Strip.

“The delegation will brief Egyptian officials on Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement, and Hayya will emphasize the movement’s commitment and readiness to implement the agreement as soon as Israel announces its commitment to it,” AFP quoted the Hamas official as adding.

The delegation, led by Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya, started its meetings with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in the city of El-Alamein, situated on the Mediterranean coast northwest of Cairo, the official said.

Another Hamas official told AFP that a meeting was being arranged with the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, and U.S. officials.

Contacts with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators were also taking place “to compel Israel to abide by the agreement,” the source added.

The American delegation is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials in Israel before traveling to Cairo.

The trip comes after Netanyahu rejected the Board of Peace’s 15-point roadmap for implementing Trump’s Gaza plan, objecting to its provisions linking an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to the phased decommissioning of Hamas and other terrorist groups’ weapons. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed, calling for “real disarmament, not fictitious disarmament.”

Gaza heats up

Meanwhile on Saturday, violence on the Gaza front escalated after an IDF tank drove over an explosive charge planted by Hamas in the southern Strip, the military said.

There were no injuries in the incident, which took place during Givati Infantry Brigade operations in the “Yellow Line area,” the IDF said.

No further details were provided.

In a separate incident the same day, Israeli troops killed a pair of terrorists in Gaza who crossed the Yellow Line in an attempt to sabotage IDF equipment, the army said.

The soldiers opened fire and eliminated the threat, said the IDF, which labeled it a “grave” violation of the ceasefire terms.

On Thursday, the IDF targeted and killed Hudhaifa Khaled Suleiman Qawari, a company commander in the Khan Yunis Brigade of Hamas’s “military” wing.