TEL AVIV, August 2. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized a team of negotiators to go to Cairo for talks on Gaza on August 3 and 4, the Ynet portal said.

According to Netanyahu’s office, the delegation will set off for Cairo on Saturday evening or on Sunday, the portal said.

Despite the escalation of the situation in the region following the elimination of Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Israel stays committed to further talks on hostage release, the prime minister’s office said. The Israeli side continues to insist that the negotiating process is being hampered by Palestinian radicals from the Hamas movement.

"Allegations that Hamas has accepted the conditions are not true. Israel’s demands are within the frames of the May 27 agreement. Despite the allegations, the prime minister [Netanyahu] has added no new conditions," Ynet quoted the prime minister’s office. Problems towards agreements are created by Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar, not by Netanyahu, "who is ready to go far to ensure the release" of Israeli hostages, the Israeli side says.

The EFE news agency reported earlier citing sources in the Egyptian security service that contacts between Egyptian and Qatari mediators with Israel linked with the Gaza ceasefire talks have been suspended after Haniyeh’s killing.

The situation in the Middle East has escalated dramatically after the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran and Shukr in Beirut. Hamas and Hezbollah placed responsibility on Israel and warned about their response. Israel doesn’t comment on Haniyeh’s death. As for the elimination of Shukr, it said that this was a retaliation to the shelling attack on the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights that killed 12 people. Hezbollah, however, denies its involvement in the incident.