Hamas makes diplomatic contact with outside world
Israeli tanks and troops have been deployed in Gaza after ten days of air-strikes
Monday, 05, Jan 2009 07:42
Hamas is sending a delegation of diplomats to Egyptian-brokered talks attended by European Union foreign ministers in a bid to force Israeli troops from Gaza.
On Monday Hamas officials confirmed it would send a delegation to Egypt as the death-toll from ten days of Israeli military action in Gaza Strip surpassed 500.
"We have received an invitation from Egypt and we're going to Cairo to listen to Egyptian officials and discuss with them suspended issues, notably the [permanent] reopening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip," Beirut-based Hamas official Ossama Hemdan told the AFP news agency.
"We want an immediate end to Israeli aggression and the lifting of the blockade and we will listen to Egyptian proposals."
Ayman Taha, another Hamas official, told the Reuters news agency a group would head to Cairo "answering an Egyptian invitation to hold discussions".
The EU has sent a delegation of foreign ministers to Sharm el-Sheikh to meet Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ahead of a visit by his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Talks with Mubarak [are] about the situation in Gaza, the means of reaching an immediate ceasefire, a reopening of crossing points and a return to the truce," said Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
The move marks the first diplomatic contact between Hamas and the outside world since Israeli began air strikes directed against the militant Islamic group at the end of last year.
The expiry of a six-month truce, brokered by Egyptian diplomats, on December 19th sparked the military action, the most significant in Gaza for decades.
The EU delegation, headed by the foreign ministers of Czech Republic, Sweden and France, is hoping to put pressure on the United Nations to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said diplomats were "working for a rapid ceasefire... the faster the better".