The head of the Egyptian intelligence agency during his trip to Gaza. The head of the Egyptian intelligence service arrived in the Gaza Strip today (Monday) for the first time since taking office.
The head of the Egyptian intelligence service, Abbas Kamel, arrived in Gaza today (Monday) and met with Yahya al-Sinwar, the head of the Hamas movement in Gaza, and a number of its leaders.
A senior Hamas official has said Israel must halt its “aggression” in both the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem as Egypt’s intelligence chief met the Palestinian group’s leaders in the besieged coastal enclave to try to bolster a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Khalil al-Haya spoke after meeting Abbas Kamel, who visited Gaza after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a trip aimed at shoring up an informal ceasefire brokered by Cairo.
His visit – the first by an Egyptian intelligence chief to the enclave since the early 2000s – was also aimed at discussing reconstruction plans following the recent Israeli bombardment of Gaza, according to Egyptian and Palestinian officials.
Kamel, who has not given public statements, is the highest-ranking Arab official to visit Gaza since 2018. He met with Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza.
“We discussed several files, most importantly the necessity to oblige the occupation to stop its aggression on Gaza, Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah, and all over Palestine,” al-Haya told reporters. He said Israel must also fully lift the blockade it imposed on Gaza when Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007 after winning 2006 elections.
“If this happens, then calm and stability could return,” he said
Egypt played a pivotal role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which governs the Strip, bringing an end to 11 days of fighting.
The flare-up in violence followed weeks of tensions in occupied East Jerusalem ahead of a now-delayed court ruling on the forced expulsion of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Israeli forces cracked down on protesters in the neighbourhood and at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is revered by Muslims and Jews, who call it the Temple Mount.
After issuing an ultimatum demanding Israeli forces stand down from sites in occupied East Jerusalem, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets into Israel, with Israel launching air raids on Gaza shortly afterwards.
Israel bombarded the territory from air, land and sea for 11 days, killing at least 253 people, including 66 children. Rockets fired by armed groups in Gaza killed at least 12 people in Israel.
Al-Haya ruled out linking Gaza’s reconstruction to Hamas’s release of two Israeli civilians and the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in a previous military campaign.
