Egypt hopes for lasting Gaza truce in early February: FM
A "permanent" truce between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip could be agreed in the first week of February, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Tuesday.
"In the framework of Egyptian efforts, we will perhaps reach a permanent ceasefire in the first week of February," Abul Gheit told journalists after meeting European foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Cairo.
Talks underway in the city with Palestinian factions aimed at shoring up peace in Gaza have "evolved positively," the Egyptian minister said.
Achieving a "permanent" ceasefire will lead to reopening Gaza”s crossing points with the outside world, a key Hamas demand and part of Cairo”s truce plan, he said.
Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, declared their own ceasefires on January 18 after a 22-day war in which more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died.
Egypt tried during the conflict to broker a truce between the two sides, as it has done in the past, and has this week been mediating in the hope of shoring up the fragile ceasefire.
Hamas, which had a delegation in Cairo for talks last week, has said it is mulling a proposal for an 18-month renewable truce in Gaza.
According to an Egyptian truce plan, Palestinian factions including Hamas rivals Fatah should resume reconciliation talks that fell through in November in order to form a government acceptable to the West, which boycotts Hamas as a terrorist outfit.
Abul Gheit said that inter-Palestinian dialogue talks could resume in the third week of February.
If everything goes according to plan, a donors conference on Gaza reconstruction could be held in Cairo "probably" on February 28, he added.