play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upNews|Benjamin NetanyahuHamas leader heads to Cairo for Gaza talks ahead of Kushner visitHamas chief Khalil al-Hayya to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad in Cairo amid ongoing Gaza tensions.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoKhalil al-Hayya, Hamas top political leader who has represented the group in negotiations for a ceasefire and captive exchange deal, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Istanbul, Turkiye, on April 24, 2024 [File: Khalil Hamra/AP]By Al Jazeera Staff and AFPPublished On 16 Aug 202616 Aug 2026Hamas political leader and chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya is set to travel to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials, a Hamas source has said, ahead of a planned Middle East visit by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Jared Kushner.
In his first visit to the country since taking over Hamas’s leadership in late July, al-Hayya is expected to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad on Sunday morning, the source told AFP and Anadolu Agency.
Next week, Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will travel to Israel and Egypt in an effort to narrow differences over a Gaza plan that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected. Kushner is set to be accompanied by Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza.
The trip follows Netanyahu’s public dismissal of a 15-point plan under which Hamas had agreed to hand its weapons to a new Palestinian governing committee.
“We continue to await pressure from the mediators and the US side on Netanyahu and his government to compel him to abide by the roadmap,” Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim told AFP on Friday.
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks have continued in Gaza.
On Saturday, Israeli fire killed two Palestinians and wounded 14 others after the military carried out air strikes, artillery shelling and demolitions in different parts of the strip, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health.
More than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire took effect in October last year, according to Palestinian official sources, with the overall death toll since October 2023 exceeding 73,300.
Netanyahu formally rejected the Board of Peace plan last Sunday, saying Israeli forces “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed”.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said this week that troops would also remain in occupied “security zones” in Lebanon and Syria, declaring there will be a continued Israeli military presence across all three fronts.
