Hamas accused Israel today of trying to scuttle truce talks in Cairo, saying the Jewish state refused to send negotiators to avoid questioning over the "escalating massacres" in Gaza.
A Palestinian delegation, which includes members of Gaza's Hamas rulers and president Mahmud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, agreed yesterday on joint demands for a truce with Israel, including an end to the Gaza blockade.
Members of the delegation handed the demands today to Egyptian intelligence chief Mohamed Farid Tohamy, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
Egypt is expected to relay those demands to the Israelis.
Israel refused sending negotiators to the Cairo truce talks, accusing Hamas of breaching a 72-hour humanitarian truce hours after it began on Friday.
Hamas said today it was Israel which breached that truce and was now trying to foil the Cairo talks.
"The Israeli side is trying to foil the meeting in Cairo by violating the (72-hour) truce," said senior Hamas official, and member of the Palestinian delegation, Ezzat al-Rishq.
He told reporters Israeli is staying away from the talks "because it does not want to bear responsibility for the massacres it has committed" in Gaza.
"Whether the delegation comes or not... It will not run away from its responsiblities. The Palestinian people will persue them at the ICC (International Criminal Court)."
The Palestinian demands agreed yesterday include "a ceasefire; Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza; the end of the siege of Gaza and opening its border crossings".
They have also demanded fishing rights up to 12 nautical miles off Gaza's coast and the release of Palestinian prisoners demanded by Hamas and Abbas.
"There is a consensus among all the Palestinian factions that Gaza can't return to a blockade... It is a natural right of the people of Gaza to live (freely) as any other people in the world," Rishq said.
He said Egypt will "try to press Israel" to accept these demands and that eventually Israel "may change its position and send a delegation at the last moment."
Azzam al-Ahmed, who is heading the Palestinian delegation, also expressed hope that Israel may still send a team to Cairo.
This could help "Egypt perform its role in halting the (Israeli) aggression and achieving the Palestinian demands through negotiations it is conducting with the two sides," he said.
