Hamas, PA Officials Leave Cairo without Agreement on ‘Day After’ in Gaza

Wednesday, 4 December 2024 | Paraguayan President Santiago Peña will travel to Jerusalem next week to attend the reopening of the South American country’s embassy in the Jewish state’s capital, Knesset [parliament] Speaker Amir Ohana said on Tuesday. 

The delegation will also include the speaker of Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies—Raúl Luís Latorre Martinez—and other senior officials.

Peña is scheduled to address the parliament on the morning of December 11, followed by a Knesset ceremony with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.

The reopening of Paraguayan’s diplomatic mission will take place the next day at the Har Hotzvim industrial park in northwestern Jerusalem. 

“About three months ago, I had the honor of inaugurating the Israeli embassy in Paraguay,” Ohana said in comments cited by Hebrew media. “In a moving ceremony, we affixed the mezuzah [scripture box affixed to a doorway] from the house where Sivan Elkabetz and Naor Hasidim were murdered on October 7 [2023].”

“Next week, we will close a circle. Paraguay’s president will inaugurate the embassy in Jerusalem. Shimon, Sivan’s father; Avi, Naor’s father; and Elhanan Danino—the father of Uri, who was kidnapped from the Nova party and was murdered—will attend,” stated the lawmaker.

“Avi and Elhanan joined me on my recent visit to Paraguay, and like me, they felt the president’s embracing and sympathetic attitude towards the State of Israel and support for its existential struggle,” he concluded.

The embassy move, which had been planned before the start of the war against Hamas, is a diplomatic boon for Israel at a time when it has faced opprobrium [harsh criticism] over the conflict triggered by the October 7 assault.

Paraguay first moved its embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, following then-President Donald Trump’s lead. It became the third country to do so after the US and GuatemWednesday, 4 December 2024 | Palestinian Authority [PA] and Hamas representatives have left Egypt without signing an expected agreement on joint management of the Gaza Strip after the war with Israel, multiple sources reported on Tuesday night.

Earlier on Tuesday, negotiators from both sides told Agence France Presse that Hamas and the PA’s ruling Fatah Party [leading secular Palestinian political party] were close to creating a committee of up to 15 “nonpartisan” Palestinians who would administer the enclave. The officials claimed the plan would follow a truce deal with Jerusalem.

The draft agreement, a copy of which was seen by the press agency, states that the committee would administer the Gaza side of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt.

However, senior PA official Jibril Rajoub was quoted as telling reporters in Ramallah on Tuesday that he did not favor any agreement to create separate political systems in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria.

“What committee is this? It is wrong to even discuss this issue,” said Rajoub. “We want one government, one security apparatus and one unified policy. Any discussion or effort outside of this framework is a mistake.”

Meanwhile, a Palestinian source familiar with the talks told Sky News Arabia on Tuesday evening that “there are still obstacles to signing the agreement, including the ‘security file’ and the crossings of Gaza.”

The source claimed that Hamas is trying to ensure that members of both its civil and military apparatus would continue to receive salaries after the PA-led committee assumed control of the coastal enclave.

The delegations, led by Turkey-based Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya and Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad, reportedly left to formulate their responses to the Egyptian draft.

An Egyptian source had previously claimed that Hamas was willing to accept that it would not be the sole ruler in Gaza, in light of Cairo’s demand that PA control be restored to advance a possible two-state solution.

On September 25, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced that Fatah had agreed to sit down with Hamas in Egypt. Mustafa said the discussion would focus on forging initial deals “to arrange the situation” in Gaza. He expressed his “readiness to administer the Gaza Strip the day after the war without excluding anyone,” local media reported. 

In July, Hamas and Fatah announced a unity deal following talks in Beijing. The declaration was approved by 14 terrorist factions that took part in negotiations hosted by Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister.

“Today, we sign an agreement, and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity,” Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk said at the time. “We are committed to national unity, and we call for it.”

The US State Department, which has been pushing for PA control over the Strip after the war, has rejected a government that includes Hamas.

“Hamas has long been a terrorist organization. They have the blood of innocent civilians—both Israeli and Palestinian—on their hands,” State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington in July. “There can’t be a role for a terrorist organization.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has insisted that an “effective and revitalized PA” should govern Gaza—a move that Israel rejects because of Ramallah’s overt support for terrorism.

Jerusalem vehemently rejects Hamas and PA rule over the Strip, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu favoring a transfer of control to local bodies not considered hostile to the Jewish state.

Netanyahu said during an interview that aired on May 9 that Israel is seeking to establish a rule “by Gazans who are not committed to our destruction, possibly with the aid of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries that I think want to see stability and peace.”

According to recent polls of Palestinian public opinion, 89% of Palestinians support establishing a government that includes or is led by Hamas. Only 8.5% said they favor an authority that is controlled exclusively by the Fatah faction.