CAIRO
Egyptian intelligence chief Mohamed Farid Tohami met Monday with the members of a Palestinian delegation to discuss means of bringing Israel's ongoing war on the blockaded Gaza Strip to an end and lifting the blockade imposed on the coastal enclave.
Well-informed Palestinian sources said the delegation presented to Tohami a paper containing Palestinian terms for reaching calm in Gaza.
"Top on the list of Palestinian demands is the need to end Israel's aggression against the Gaza Strip and lift its blockade on Gaza," one source told Anadolu Agency.
The source, who asked not to be named, added that the Egyptian side had promised to do everything possible to guarantee the achievement of these Palestinian demands.
Another member of the Palestinian delegation told AA on Sunday that the Palestinian paper contained eight demands in total, including a ceasefire; an Israeli pullout to pre-conflict positions; reapplying the terms of the 2012 ceasefire, and lifting the long-running blockade on the Gaza Strip.
"The demands also include the need to allow Gaza fishermen to work in the sea, free Palestinians recently detained by Israel and also free the fourth group of Palestinian detainees," Qais Abdel-Karim said.
He added that the Palestinians also demand Arab and international guarantees that Israel would not repeat its aggressions against the Gaza Strip in the future.
Palestinian sources, meanwhile, said the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip through the recently-formed national unity government and in cooperation with the United Nations was also among the issues discussed in the meeting between the delegation and the Egyptian officials.
They added that the need for delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza was also discussed during the meeting.
"The two sides discussed the idea of holding an international conference for donors," one of the Palestinian sources said.
He added that the conference can be headed by Norway with the participation of Arab countries, the United States, Japan, Turkey, China, and Russia.
Israel has been pounding the blockaded Gaza Strip – home to 1.8 million people – since July 7.
At least 1837 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and 9450 wounded in unrelenting Israeli attacks since then.
The Israeli army has confirmed that 64 troops had been killed and 400 others injured in the ongoing Gaza military operation.
Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rockets at Israeli cities, killing three civilians.
The offensive – codenamed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip within the last six years.
www.aa.com.tr/en
