Hamas leader Haniyeh arrives in Cairo for talks on possible hostage deal

Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh tours the site of a destroyed building in Gaza City, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh tours the site of a destroyed building in Gaza City, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Hamas announces that its leader Ismail Haniyeh has arrived in Cairo this morning to conduct talks with Egyptian officials on the latest developments in the war in Gaza and on “other files,” according to a statement released by the terror group.

A source close to Hamas told AFP yesterday that the talks will focus on a possible ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange deal with Israel.

Haniyeh, based in Qatar, arrives in Cairo accompanied by a “high-level” Hamas delegation, and will hold meetings with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and other officials to discuss “the delivery of humanitarian aid, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip and the return of displaced persons to their towns and villages in the north,” the source added.

Haniyeh’s visit is his second to Egypt since the brutal Hamas attack and the start of the war on October 7, following a trip in early November.

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