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On Wednesday, Egypt urged Hamas and Israel to stop their escalating conflict in Gaza. It did play down the idea that it would mediate a truce between the two parties. Egypt has been a signatory of a peace treaty with Israel since 1979, and has, in the past, played a crucial role in negotiating peace between Israel and Hamas. However, it has hinted at a more hands-off approach this time around, as tensions between Hamas and the new Egyptian government rise.
“There is no mediation, in the common sense of the word.Egyptian diplomatic efforts are aimed at immediately stopping Israeli aggression and ending all mutual violence. (Egyptian) contacts have not yet achieved a result”, Badr Abdelatty, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry, said.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan, currently based in Beirut, said that they will not “surrender” despite the latest air strikes.
“There are no ceasefire talks, in the conventional sense. There are ongoing contacts. The Israelis are not interested in mediation, they are looking for surrender. The situation will clear up in the coming hours. We will respond to this escalation, and Israel might be convinced that the escalation does not help them”, he said.
The conflict between the two is the deadliest since the eight-day war in November 2012. Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian President at the time, condemned the “Israeli aggression” and sent the Egyptian Prime Minister to Gaza to show support for Palestinians. Morsi then brokered peace between the two, which was considered favorable to Hamas, a group which has often been linked to his own Muslim Brotherhood.
Since he was overthrown in July 2013 by former army chief and current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt has cracked down on several smuggling tunnels to Gaza Strip, and has accused Hamas of assisting the Brotherhood in attacks in Egypt.
Sisi has said that Hamas alienated Egyptians by supporting the Brotherhood. Late on Tuesday, the Egyptian Presidency, without elaborating, said that Sisi had spoken with his ally Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to discuss the current situation in Gaza.