Egyptian sources told al-Arabi al-Jadid this evening (Tuesday) that the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, is seeking to moderate the Egyptian rage in Cairo in his talks with Egyptian officials in light of security tensions in the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, Haniyeh said that Hamas was ready to resume negotiations with Israel regarding a truce and a prisoner exchange deal.
Sources confirmed that Haniyeh had asked the Egyptians to open the Rafah crossing, which had been closed since Monday following the embarrassment created for Egypt following the injury of a border fighter on the Gaza border.
The Egyptians demanded from Haniyeh measures that would prove "good intentions" before the Rafah crossing reopened. The sources stressed to him that any unilateral move by Hamas without coordination with Egypt could undermine relations between the parties. Sources were also quoted as saying that the current government in Israel differs in its approach to the Gaza Strip from the previous government and Cairo seeks to leverage this to reach a permanent truce.