Hamas ready for Gaza talks

It seems that Hamas may be ready for talks to stop the fighting in Gaza. A spokesman said a delegation will go to Cairo today for the first official discussions since Israel began its assault on Gaza ten days ago.

Egypt has already been talking to Hamas, an EU party is in Cairo, and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due there today leading the calls for a ceasefire. It is not clear if the Hamas team will meet him or the EU negotiators, but the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is running out of patience:

“We must do something,” he said. “No declaration, no condemnation, no coming back to history, we know that. What are we able, altogether, to do? Not only us, you too! Because this is part of the future of the world. So, yes, concrete action we are looking for, and we are completely prepared to do it.”

The EU has pledged three million euros in emergency aid for Gaza, warning that food, water and medicine are urgently needed to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

benita ferrero-waldner
“Today, of course, all the crossings are closed, on the Palestinian side as well,” said the EU External Affairs Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. “But it is important that fuel, water, food – particularly wheat to make bread, goes in there, and also that hospitals can work.”

The EU delegation will go on to Israel and the West Bank during its three-day mission. Israel says its military operation will continue until what it calls its objectives are met.

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tags: Egypt, Gaza, Israel