Hamas Leader Arrives in Cairo... Hopes for Ceasefire and Hostage Negotiation Resumption

Hamas announced that its political leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Cairo, Egypt on the 20th (local time).

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In a statement on the same day, Hamas said that Haniyeh would meet with Abbas Kamel, head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (GNI), and other Egyptian government officials to discuss the Gaza Strip war.

Egypt, along with Qatar where Haniyeh resides, has played a key role as a mediator in the ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas since the outbreak of the war on October 7.

Haniyeh's visit to Egypt is the second since the outbreak of this war and came shortly after Israel expressed its willingness to resume negotiations for the release of hostages.

Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog said during a meeting with the local diplomatic corps the previous day, "Israel is prepared to allow another humanitarian ceasefire and additional humanitarian aid for the release of hostages."

Earlier, David Barnea, director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, William Burns, director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar, discussed a new negotiation plan for the release of Israeli hostages on the 18th in Warsaw, Poland.

It is currently known that about 129 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli military reports that around 20 of them have died.