Palestinian delegation due in Cairo today

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has formed a 12-man delegation to visit Cairo today and discuss with Egyptian officials a way to end the conflict in Gaza.

According to Palestine’s Ministry of Information, the delegation will be headed by Azzam Ahmed, and will include Maged Farah, head of general intelligence, Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khalil al-Haya, Ezzat al-Rashq, Mohamed Nasr, Emad al-Elmy, Bassem al-Salhy, Qeis Abdel Karim ‘Abu Leila’, Ziad Nakhala (the vice secretary general of Islamic Jihad), Khaled al-Batsh, and Maher al-Taher.

Hamas leaders in Gaza won’t be likely to attend the talks due to the difficult situation in the strip, the state-run Ahram Gate website reported, citing a senior unnamed source quoted by the Middle East News Agency.

Israel also won't be sending envoys to the peace talks in Cairo today, according to Reuters.

Around 1,650 Palestinians have been killed and more than 8,000 injured in the 26 days since the conflict started, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The United Nations estimates that four-fifths of the dead were civilians. Palestinian officials say more than 300 were children. On the Israeli side, 63 soldiers and three civilians have died.

Talks in Cairo have so far yielded no results, since Egypt announced a cease-fire initiative on July 14. The initiative calls on both sides to halt attacks first, and then negotiations can begin. Hamas has rejected the proposal, because it wants guarantees on the lifting of the siege on Gaza and the release of prisoners. Israel has so far maintained that these demands are “unacceptable.”

 President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said today that the Egyptian cease-fire plan provides a “real opportunity” to end the Gaza conflict, stressing the need for its speedy implementation.

“The Egyptian proposal is the real opportunity to find a solution to the crisis in Gaza and to end the bloodshed,” Sisi told a joint news conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.