Leaders of the Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement held a new round of talks in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss plans for cooperation after the war in Gaza, a Hamas official told Reuters.
The talks are the first since the two groups met in China in July and agreed on steps to form a Palestinian unity government for Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
They are also part of long-running and previously unsuccessful efforts to heal the division that began when Hamas took over Gaza in a brief conflict with Fatah in 2007.
Hamas media official Tahir al-Nono said the Hamas delegation was led by Khalil al-Haya, the group’s Qatar-based second-in-command and chief negotiator.
A Palestinian official said the Fatah delegation was led by Fatah’s second-in-command Mahmoud al-Aloul. There was no immediate comment from Fatah.
“The meeting will discuss Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the challenges facing the Palestinian issue,” Nono said.
The issue of Gaza governance is one of the most difficult issues facing Palestinians following the end of the years-long Israel-Hamas war.
Israel, which launched its military operation to eliminate Hamas in Gaza on October 7, 2023, following a Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities, has refused to include the group in a post-war administration. .
He says he also doesn’t trust the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority, which rules the partially Israeli-occupied West Bank, to act.
Palestinian factions say their post-war plans are an internal matter, and they reject Israel’s terms.
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A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said that if a unity government is not agreed upon, the groups could try to form a committee to help run Gaza and control border crossings.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the nature and exact responsibilities of the proposed committee were unclear.
Egyptian security officials said Egypt was urging both sides to agree on a mechanism to manage the crossings along its border with Gaza, which has been closed since May.
Cairo says the Palestinian presence along the border should be reestablished. It is discussing broader ceasefire talks as well as border plans with the United States that are now stalled.
Before May, Rafah was the only Gaza crossing not directly controlled by Israel. It had become an important entry point for humanitarian aid and an exit point for medical evacuation.
It was previously the gateway to the outside world for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, although Egypt and Israel strictly controlled movement through it.
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