Hamas denies meeting with Israeli official

GAZA, Palestine

Palestine’s Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) denied Monday that it has held any meetings with Israeli officials in Egypt’s capital.

A reported meeting in Cairo between Hamas officials and a representative of the Israeli occupation government is totally false and baseless, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

The promotion of this false news is a miserable attempt to “distort the resistance”, Qassem added.

On Saturday, the Saudi-owned London-based Independent Arabia news website reported that a secret meeting had taken place last week in Cairo between Nadav Argaman, the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, and Hamas leaders including Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of its political bureau.

The website claimed the meeting was mediated by Egyptian Intelligence Chief Major General Abbas Kamel, who reportedly suggested that Argaman should listen directly to Hamas’ conditions for achieving a long-term truce with Israel and directly present Israel’s position to the Hamas leaders.

Over the last several months, Egypt, Qatar and the UN have been holding consultations with various parties in an effort to hammer out a truce between Hamas-led Palestinian resistance factions and Israel.