Significant progress has been made in Cairo talks on resolving the situation in the Gaza Strip, according to the Egyptian TV channel Al Qahera News, which cited a senior official.
The official stated that the US and Israeli delegations will leave within hours, while Hamas and Qatari delegations will leave and return within two days for a final agreement. The talks are expected to last about 48 hours, according to the source.
The official also noted that the talks reached a consensus between the parties on several major contentious issues. The Palestinian Hamas movement reported that its delegation met in Cairo with the head of Egypt's General Intelligence Directorate, Abbas Kamel. The movement's main conditions include "a complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip, the unimpeded return of displaced persons to their places of residence, ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, the start of reconstruction of the enclave, and the completion of a prisoner swap deal, under which Palestinian prisoners are to be released in exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza."
Cairo is now hosting a new round of talks on resolving the situation in the Gaza Strip. According to a senior Egyptian source speaking to an Al-Qahira Al-Ikhbariya reporter on Saturday, William Burns, the Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, as well as an Israeli delegation, will participate in the dialogue. Hamas is represented at the talks by a delegation led by the deputy head of the movement in the Gaza Strip, Khalil al-Hayya.
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Photo: Al Jazeera English/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS