Islamic Jihad leader in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials. HT: IMRA.
Islamic Jihad leader in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials - Sept. 2, 2015 2:55 P.M. (Updated: Sept. 2, 2015 2:55 P.M.) http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767387
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah arrived in Cairo late Tuesday to meet with Egyptian officials, a source from the group said.
Shallah, who was accompanied by his deputy, Ziad Nakhala, visited Egypt to discuss the ceasefire agreement reached after Israel's military offensive last summer and the opening of the Rafah crossing.
The Islamic Jihad officials were also due to discuss the kidnapping of four Hamas members in Sinai on Aug. 19, the source said.
Egyptian officials told Ma'an that the four members were taken hostage by the IS-affiliated Sinai Militant militant group as a bargaining chip to force Hamas to release some 50 Salafists currently imprisoned in Gaza.
Negotiations have reportedly begun between Hamas and the militant group, with the involvement of both Palestinian and Egyptian mediators.
The Egyptian-brokered truce came into effect on August 26, 2014, with the sides pledging to resume indirect contacts within a month to pin down a lasting ceasefire and discuss crunch issues. Follow-up talks were delayed several times and never formally resumed.
In August, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, the al-Quds Brigades, said the group would no longer continue to commit to the ceasefire agreement if prisoner Muhammad Allan, then in the critical stages of a hunger strike, died.
