The Egyptian intelligence official in charge of the Palestinian file paid a surprise visit to the Gaza Strip on Saturday where he held talks with the Hamas leadership.
Sameh Nabil held talks during his five-hour visit with Hamas politburo chief Ismail Hanieh.
The meeting was attended by Hamas leader in Gaza Yehya al-Sinwar, his deputy Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas politburo member Nizar Awadhallah and Internal Security Forces chief Toufic Abou Naim.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Nabil delivered an important message from head of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamel to Hamas.
The message focused on the settlement file and Palestinian Authority demands that the government of national accord be granted complete control of Gaza, which is currently managed by Hamas.
Egypt informed Hamas that it wanted to resume reconciliation efforts in line with the Cairo agreement that was reached in October 2017, revealed the sources.
Egyptian efforts are currently focusing on resuming communication between Hamas and Fatah, said the sources. They acknowledged that this mission may be “a little complicated” given Fatah’s demand that the government be granted control of Gaza before holding any meeting with Hamas.
Tensions have been high between Hamas and Fatah in wake of the failed assassination attempt against national accord government Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah as he was paying a visit to Gaza in March.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held Hamas responsible for the attack, hampering efforts to implement the Cairo reconciliation, which was aimed at ending a decade-long rift between the two major Palestinian parties.
Abbas had held talks in Ramallah with Kamel on April 3. Discussions focused on the reconciliation.
