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On December 2, 2019, two senior delegations, from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), arrived in Cairo. The Hamas delegation was headed by Ismail Haniyah, the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, and the PIJ delegation was headed by Ziyad Nakhaleh, PIJ’s secretary-general. According to Egyptian and Palestinian sources, senior figures in the military wings of both organizations also arrived in Cairo to attend the talks (Al-Quds, December 4, 2019). One of the main issues discussed in Cairo was the achievement of a lull agreement with Israel.
Following the talks in Cairo, Hamas issued an official announcement, accompanied by statements of its senior officials, according to which Hamas objects to a “long-term lull” (for 10 years) that will lead to the cessation of the actions of the “resistance” (i.e., terrorism). According to senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, the purpose of the negotiations conducted by Hamas is to reach an agreement that will not bind Hamas, on the basis of the understandings reached at the end of Operation Protective Edge (the essence of which is a ceasefire in return for humanitarian gestures and easing the “siege” on the Gaza Strip). If understandings in this spirit are not achieved, “then confrontation and explosion are bound to happen” (Khalil al-Hayya’s interview to PalToday channel, December 4, 2019; for further statements, see appendix).
