GAZAÂ – Hamas said on Sunday it received assurances from Egypt that Cairo has not reached an agreement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s government that would exclude the Islamist group from running Gaza’s border.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters Egyptian officials had told Hamas that they wanted to work out a new arrangement to manage Gaza’s border with Egypt in talks with Hamas and Abbas’s secular Fatah faction.
Abu Zuhri’s comments contradicted those made earlier by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki who said Egypt had already agreed to Abbas taking control of the crossing, excluding Hamas.