"Hamas Delegation Dispatched to Cairo, Egypt... Not Participating in Negotiations"

Image source=AP Yonhap News

The Palestinian armed group Hamas is sending a delegation to Cairo, Egypt.

According to AFP on the 24th (local time), a senior Hamas official who requested anonymity stated, "The delegation will meet with Egyptian intelligence officials to hear about the progress of the ongoing ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip," adding, "This does not mean they are participating in the negotiations."

He continued, "We have said from the beginning that we will not participate in the negotiations that started last week in Doha."

Hamas's decision to send a delegation to Cairo appears to be in response to the United States announcing progress in the ceasefire talks held on the 22nd and 23rd.

Earlier, John Kirby, National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, stated in an online briefing that "the preliminary talks held in Cairo were constructive."

At the Cairo meeting, a compromise plan regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, a roughly 14 km buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, was reportedly the main focus. Since the war broke out in October last year, Israel, which controls the Philadelphi Corridor, insists on maintaining troops there even after a ceasefire to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons.

Hamas has maintained the position that the Israeli military must completely withdraw from this area, causing the negotiations to reach a deadlock. Egypt, the neighboring country, also opposes Israel's plan to station troops in the Philadelphi Corridor.

The mediators?Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Israel?plan to continue ceasefire negotiations in Cairo with the attendance of William Burns, Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.