Arab TV reports say humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza imminent

Hours after Khaled Mashaal met with Palestinian Authority chief Abbas for cease-fire talks, the sources claimed that Mashaal was expected to arrive in Cairo for the announcement.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Doha (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Doha
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Some Arab TV stations on Monday night quoted unnamed Palestinian sources as saying that a humanitarian ceasefire will be announced in Cairo Tuesday.
The sources claimed that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was expected to arrive in Cairo for the announcement.
Mashaal held cease-fire discussions with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Qatar on Monday in the first meeting of its kind since the beginning of the current round of fighting.
During the meeting, Abbas emphasized the need for all parties to abide by the recent Egyptian cease-fire initiative, a Palestinian official accompanying the PA president said.
The official said that Abbas and Mashaal agreed to continue consultations in order to “stop the Israeli aggression” on the Gaza Strip.
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh reiterated the PA leadership’s call for an immediate cease-fire, saying this would “achieve the national goals of the Palestinian people.”
In the Gaza Strip, former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said in a televised speech his movement has decided to “end the blockade with its blood and weapons and there would be no return back.”
Haniyeh said that Hamas’ conditions for a cease-fire include ending the blockade and Israeli “aggression” on the Gaza Strip and the release of former Palestinian prisoners who were rearrested by Israel in the past few weeks.
Haniyeh also denounced Arab “silence” toward the war in the Gaza Strip. “The silence of the Arab regimes has emboldened the enemy and given it a cover to perpetrate more crimes,” he charged.