Hamas leader Haniyeh concludes ceasefire, hostage deal talks in Cairo

File: This handout picture provided by the Iranian foreign ministry on February 13, 2024, shows Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh preparing to welcome the Iranian foreign minister in Doha. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
File: This handout picture provided by the Iranian foreign ministry on February 13, 2024, shows Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh preparing to welcome the Iranian foreign minister in Doha. (Iranian Foreign Ministry/AFP)

Hamas says its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has left Egypt after holding talks with Egyptian officials about a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of the Israeli hostages held captive by the terrorist group.

The statement released by Hamas does not say whether Haniyeh’s talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel about ways of ending the war, a hostage deal and the flow of aid to Gaza were successful or led to a breakthrough.

The talks in Cairo come ahead of a high-level meeting expected over the weekend in Paris, where international mediators will present a new proposal for a hostage deal.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been struggling for weeks to find a formula that could halt the devastating war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but now face an unofficial deadline as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches.

Israel has been seeking a deal including a temporary pause in fighting in exchange for the release of the 134 hostages — not all of them alive — still held by Hamas since the brutal October 7 terror onslaught on southern Israel. Israel has vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is crushed and its rule of the Palestinian enclave is a thing of the past.

Hamas initially demanded an end to the war, now in its fifth month, before hostages could be released. Hamas has said that it would release the Israeli hostages in return for all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, many of whom are serving life sentences for murder and other serious acts of terror. Israel rejected the demand, and mediators have been working on a new deal.

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