Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas's political leader and chief negotiator, will travel to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials, according to a Hamas source. The visit comes ahead of a planned Middle East trip by Jared Kushner, the U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy.
This is al-Hayya's first visit to Egypt since assuming leadership of Hamas in late July. He is scheduled to meet Egypt's intelligence chief, Hassan Rashad, on Sunday morning, according to sources from AFP and Anadolu.
Next week, Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, will visit Israel and Egypt in an effort to bridge differences over a Gaza plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected. Kushner is expected to be accompanied by Nickolay Mladenov, a senior representative of the Board of Peace overseeing Gaza.
The trip comes after Netanyahu publicly refused the 15-point plan, under which Hamas agreed to hand over weapons to a new Palestinian governing committee.
"We are still waiting for pressure from the mediators and the American side on Netanyahu and his government to force him to adhere to the roadmap," Basem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told AFP on Friday.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes continue in Gaza. On Saturday, Israeli fire killed two Palestinians and wounded 14 others after the military carried out airstrikes, shelling, and house demolitions in various parts of the strip, according to the local health ministry.
According to Palestinian sources, more than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire took effect in October last year, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to over 73,300.
Netanyahu formally rejected the Board of Peace plan last Sunday, stating that "Israeli forces will not withdraw until Hamas truly disarms." Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also said this week that the military would maintain its presence in "security zones" in Lebanon and Syria, affirming Israel's military presence on all three fronts.
