Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas's political bureau, was expected in Cairo on Saturday evening for meetings with Egyptian officials, a source within the Palestinian movement told Agence France-Presse. The visit comes ahead of a regional trip by Jared Kushner, son-in-law and envoy of US President Donald Trump.
It is al-Hayya's first trip to Egypt since he took over the leadership of Hamas in late July. According to the source, he was expected to meet on Sunday morning with Hassan Rashad, the head of Egypt's intelligence service.
Kushner's push for the Gaza roadmap
Kushner is expected in Israel and Egypt next week as part of a White House effort to advance the American "roadmap" for the Gaza Strip. Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, has served as a senior adviser to the president and has previously been involved in US Middle East diplomacy, including the Abraham Accords.
He will be accompanied by Nikolay Mladenov, the Bulgarian diplomat who serves as high representative of Trump's "Peace Council."
Netanyahu's rejection of the 15-point plan
The trip follows the public rejection on 9 August by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the American 15-point roadmap. The plan, announced by Mladenov in late July, calls for the disarmament of Hamas and a progressive withdrawal of Israeli forces from the areas of the Palestinian territory they hold.
Hamas accepted the roadmap, but Israel rejected it. Netanyahu said that any withdrawal of his armed forces from the Gaza Strip is conditional on the "genuine" disarmament of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
A source within the Peace Council told AFP that Kushner and Mladenov hope for constructive discussions on Trump's overall plan for Gaza. The so-called first phase of that plan began with a fragile ceasefire that took effect on 10 October 2025. Israeli military operations have since scaled back but have not stopped.
Casualties since the ceasefire
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, whose figures the United Nations regards as reliable, at least 1,260 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began. Over the same period, according to official data, the Israeli armed forces suffered six losses in Gaza, five soldiers and one civilian contractor.
