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Hamas’ exiled deputy chief Mussa Abu Marzuq on Wednesday said that it would resume indirect talks with Israel and consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza in mid-September in Cairo.
Fifty days of lethal fighting between the Israelis and the Palestinians caused the death of over 2,200 people. The war ended on August 26th with an open-ended peace deal. Under the terms of the agreement, all parties involved were to resume the Egyptian-mediated negotiations in a month’s time and discuss important issues like Hamas’ demands for an airport and a sea port, Israel’s insistence on the complete disarmament of Gaza and a prisoner exchange.
Mussa Abu Marzuq, in a press conference in Gaza City, said that it was “expected that the talks would resume in mid-September”.
As a part of the ceasefire, Israel had agreed to ease the flow of goods, construction material and humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to enlarge the fishing zone of Gaza’s coast to 6 nautical miles.
Other issues will be discussed when negotiators return to Cairo; no official date on when that will happen has been announced yet.
“The Egyptians still have to give us the exact date”, Abu Marzuq said
Speaking with Palestine Radio on Wednesday, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said that Egyptian negotiators had visited Ramallah and Jerusalem last week in an attempt to settle on a date for the talks.
“This was the aim of the Egyptian delegation’s visit to Ramallah and Israel. They spoke of resuming the negotiations in two weeks, between September 20-25”, Bassem al-Salhi, a member of the Palestinian delegation, said.
Sources close to the Egyptian mediation team confirmed that a “security delegation” visited Ramallah, but no date has been confirmed for the talks to resume.
Abu Marzuq added that the Palestinians were “determined to resume the talks”, and that he expects the same from Israel. Israeli officials have not officially commented on when the talks in Cairo will resume.
