April 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Egypt, Abdel Fattá al Sisi, met this Sunday in Cairo with the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, hours before the resumption of talks to achieve a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has already announced that it will send a delegation to the Egyptian capital and sources close to the Israeli Government take for granted the participation of a representation headed by the heads of the two Israeli Intelligence services, David Barnea and Ronan Bar, with a “expanded mandate” to negotiate, reports the Israeli newspaper 'Yedioth Aharonoth'.
In a statement published on Facebook, Egypt's State Information Service explains that the meeting between Al Sisi and Burns focused on these joint mediation efforts with Qatar and underlined “the crucial need to restore calm and prevent a military escalation.” in Gaza.”
Both interlocutors agreed during the meeting on the imperative need to “protect civilians” and on the “seriousness” of a possible Israeli operation in the city of Rafá, where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people from other parts of the enclave live.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned Hamas this Sunday that there will be no ceasefire in Gaza without an accompanying agreement for the release of the hostages who have been held by the Palestinian militias since October 7, in statements made before the possible departure of the delegation.
The Palestinian movement, for its part, advanced yesterday through a spokesperson that does not intend to give up on its demands and will only accept an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners when the Israeli military withdraws from Gaza territory. The United States and Israel continue to link any cessation of hostilities to the release of the hostages.
