Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will visit Cairo for talks on an exchange of prisoners between Israel and the Palestinians, a senior Egyptian official said on Sunday. Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad told a news conference that during the visit, Egypt would also press its attempt to bring about agreement on a Palestinian government of national unity between Hamas and Fatah.
"Mr Meshaal has an invitation to come to Cairo ... The visit will tackle the issue of the prisoner exchange and the situation in the Palestinian and Israeli arena," Awad said, according to Reuters. He did not say when the visit would take place.
Meanwhile, the armed wing of Hamas on Sunday mourned one of its fighters who died while carrying out his "Jihad duty" in digging a tunnel in central Gaza Strip. A statement issued by the armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, in mourning their martyr affirmed that Bakr Na'eem Al-Assar, 20, died while preparing "to shake pillars of the Zionist occupation army".
The statement stressed, "Qassam fighters proved their insistence to persist along the path drawn by their martyred leaders, working in silence, and people see not their faces but their heroic deeds. They steadfastly fight the IOF troops and know not retreat or regression before them".
"The Qassam fighters are working on top of and under the ground to lethally hit occupiers of their country. Their guns are pointed and will remain directed at one and only enemy namely Israel", the statement underlined.
