Leaders from the Palestinian group Hamas arrived in Egypt on Saturday to discuss progress in Cairo's efforts to arrange a truce with Israel, Egyptian and Hamas sources said. Hamas officials said earlier that Hamas had no objections to a ceasefire lasting 18 months but a lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip must be part of the deal. A previous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in Dec. leading to a three-week Israeli offensive on the coastal enclave in which at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed before both sides separately halted hostilities. "We've agreed to a unified position, and we'll relay it to the Egyptian authorities and then we'll take their response to the leadership in Damascus and then return to Cairo again," senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told Reuters soon after crossing the border into Egypt as part of a seven-person Hamas delegation.
It was the first time Zahar has appeared in public since Israel's massive 22-day war against Gaza.
Zahar, believed to be the overall Hamas leader in the Palestinian territories, is among a delegation of seven Hamas officials who crossed the Rafah border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on their way to Cairo for talks with intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
The delegation will hear Israel's position, which senior Israeli defense official Amos Gilad relayed to Suleiman on Friday, Zahar said.
Hamas officials have said they are seeking clarifications on an Israeli offer to allow between 70 and 80 percent of goods through its crossings into Gaza, barring those it says could be used to make weapons.
The fact that Zahar himself was attending the talks showed how important the truce was to Hamas, a spokesman said.