A Hamas team met Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Sunday in an attempt to clinch a lasting truce in Gaza Strip, after an Israeli official held similar talks in Cairo. Egypt's state MENA news agency said Suleiman and the Hamas members discussed "Egyptian efforts to consolidate the ceasefire, reach a (permanent) truce, reopen Gaza crossings and resume Palestinian national dialogue."
A Hamas spokesman in Damascus reiterated to AFP that the movement was willing to observe a "one-year truce" with Israel "on condition" that the blockade of Gaza is lifted. MENA earlier quoted an Egyptian official saying that Cairo hopes to clinch a "lasting ceasefire agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians" and "to succeed in narrowing the differences between the two sides."
Suleiman, Egypt's pointman for Palestinian-Israeli affairs, met on Thursday Israeli negotiator Amos Gilad.
As the Cairo talks got under way the Hamas representative in Lebanon vowed that the group will continue to arm its fighters. "Warplanes, aircraft carriers and satellite technology will not be able to monitor the entry of weapons through Gaza's tunnels," Ossama Hamdan told a rally in Beirut.
"Things might get difficult, but we will do whatever it takes to continue our resistance against Israel."
