PARIS, December 20. /TASS/. A delegation of high-ranking members of Palestine’s radical Hamas movement, led by the chairman of Hamas's political bureau Ismail Haniyeh, plans to depart to Cairo on December 20 to discuss a possible ceasefire and exchange of hostages, AFP reported citing an anonymous source.

According to the report, Haniyeh will meet with Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID) Abbas Kamel to discuss "stopping the aggression and the war to prepare an agreement for the release of prisoners [and] the end of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."

Earlier, Palestine’s Quds portal informed about Hamas leadership’s plans to visit Cairo "in the coming days" and meet with relevant Egyptian officials to discuss "Israel’s aggression against Gaza."

It was reported that the delegation will arrive in Cairo "not from Gaza."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip and took hostages. Hamas described its operation as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and carried out air strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as some areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.

On November 22, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The deal stipulated the release of Israeli women and children being held hostage in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. The sides extended the ceasefire several times but on the morning of December 1 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip. On December 5, a member of Hamas politburo Osama Hamdan said that the movement would not release any of hostages it was still holding until Israel stopped its operation in Gaza.