Gaza City: Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said yesterday that talks in Cairo with Egyptian officials had been "fruitful".
While the group refrained from saying when exactly talks began, Egyptian sources said Ismail Haniyeh, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, had arrived in Cairo on Sunday evening at the head of a delegation.
Several meetings were held with Egyptian officials, which, according to a Hamas statement, had focused on "inter-Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and rival movement Fatah and the humanitarian situation in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip".
Hamas also reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining security along the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Relations between Egypt and Hamas have remained tense since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi — Egypt’s first freely-elected president — was ousted and imprisoned in a bloody military coup.
Last March, a high-profile Hamas delegation visited Egypt with a view to improving relations between the two sides. Since the 2013 military coup, Egypt has — with occasional exceptions -- kept its border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip tightly sealed.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that plans be drafted for 68 new housing units in the West Bank settlement of Ofra.
Israeli authorities gave final approval on Thursday to 153 east Jerusalem settlement units.
