Hamas Delegation Heads to Cairo for ‘Exploratory’ Meetings

Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)
Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)
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Hamas Delegation Heads to Cairo for ‘Exploratory’ Meetings

Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)
Protesters wave the Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli security forces near the border fence east of Gaza City on December 15, 2017. (AFP)

A Hamas delegation is scheduled to arrive in Cairo mid-September to meet with Egyptian officials for further talks on pending issues, an official from the Palestinian movement official said on Sunday.

Hamas politburo member Maher Obeid said that the meetings will tackle various Palestinian files, especially reconciliation and a ceasefire with Israel.

Delegations from the Popular and Democratic fronts are expected to arrive for periodic meetings with Egyptian officials after efforts, especially peace negotiations, failed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been accused of hindering the efforts.

Hamas has escalated its actions against Israel prior to the arrival of its delegation to Egypt and plans to revive popular rallies along the Gaza-Israel border, including the possibility of relaunching incendiary kites.

These acts aim at shedding light on the deteriorating situation in Gaza and serve as a strong protest message following the end of truce talks.

“Hamas believes that mediators will once again take action if Israel comes under pressure,” Asharq Al-Awsat had earlier quoted the movement as saying.

Obeid stressed that "if the masses of our people stepped up the march of return and put new pressure on the occupation, then truce will be achieved and Israel will pay for its actions."

“The fate of the peaceful return marches, especially after freezing the truce talks, depends on the movement of the Palestinian masses,” Obeid told the local Palestinian al-Istiqlal newspaper.

“Truce efforts have not completely stopped, but they are witnessing a state of laxity and change in the priorities of the parties, so that their priority will be to start reconciliation and then to address to other matters, led by the PA,” he added.

“However, it seems that our people will head towards escalation ... in order to achieve the desired goals,” Obeid stressed.

Egypt-sponsored truce talks between Palestinian factions and Israel last month were halted after Abbas's threats that he would not allow a truce in the Gaza Strip since it will help separate the enclave from the West Bank and lead the way for the adoption of the so-called “Deal of the Century”.



Israel Targets Senior Hezbollah Commander in Beirut Air Strike

 People gather near a site hit by what security sources said was a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024. (Reuters)
People gather near a site hit by what security sources said was a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel Targets Senior Hezbollah Commander in Beirut Air Strike

 People gather near a site hit by what security sources said was a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024. (Reuters)
People gather near a site hit by what security sources said was a strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon July 30, 2024. (Reuters)

An Israeli air strike targeted a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut's southern suburbs late on Tuesday in what the Israeli military said was retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack three days before that killed 12 children and teenagers.

A loud blast was heard and a plume of smoke could be seen rising above the southern suburbs - a stronghold of the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah - at around 7:40 p.m. (1640 GMT), a Reuters witness said.

A senior Lebanese security source said a senior Hezbollah commander had been the target of the air strike and his fate remained unclear.

Lebanon's state-run national news agency said an Israeli air strike had targeted the area around Hezbollah's Shura Council in the Haret Hreik neighborhood of the capital.

Beirut has been on edge for days ahead of an anticipated Israeli attack in reprisal for the rocket strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday that killed the 12 youngsters in a football field in a Druze village.

Hezbollah has denied involvement in that attack.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had conducted "a targeted strike in Beirut on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians". Details would follow.

Earlier on Tuesday, more rocket fire from south Lebanon killed a civilian in a kibbutz in northern Israel, medics said.

Shortly before the explosion in south Beirut, the Israeli military said 15 projectiles had been fired across the Lebanese border within the past few hours, with impacts in parts of the Upper Galilee region. No injuries were reported.

Israel's air force had just hit a Hezbollah observation post and "terror infrastructure" in south Lebanon, it added.

CONCERNS ABOUT ESCALATION

As diplomats sought to contain the fallout, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he did not believe a fight was inevitable between Hezbollah and Israel, though he remained concerned about the potential for escalation.

Hezbollah and Israel, which last fought each other in a major war in 2006, have been trading fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, after Hezbollah began firing at Israeli targets in what it says is solidarity with the Palestinians.

The hostilities have mostly been limited to the frontier region and both sides have previously indicated they do not seek a wider confrontation even as the conflict has prompted worry about the risk of a slide towards war.

In the latest exchanges of fire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon and one hit Kibbutz Hagoshrim, causing one casualty. Israel's ambulance service said the 30-year-old male died of shrapnel wounds.

Israel said it hit some 10 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon overnight and killed one Hezbollah fighter - attacks which appeared to be in keeping with the pattern of the last nine months. Hezbollah confirmed one of its fighters was killed.

Meanwhile the United States said it will continue pursuing diplomacy to avert an escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.  

"We're continuing to work toward a diplomatic resolution that would allow Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return to their homes and live in peace and security. We certainly want to avoid any kind of escalation," deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told a briefing.