File Photo: Hamas deputy chief in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya
A delegation from Palestinian resistance group Hamas set out for Cairo from the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday for talks with Egyptian officials.
“The Hamas delegation crossed Rafah border crossing into Egyptian territory,” the Palestinian authority running the crossing said in a statement.
The delegation is led by Hamas deputy chief in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter in the strip.
Cairo has been hosting talks among Palestinian factions with a view to healing inter-Palestinian rift and easing tension with Israel.
Two Palestinians were martyred by Israeli shelling in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry.The bodies of Ayman Nafez, 24, and Muhammad Majid, 24, were admitted to the Indonesian Hospital after Israeli forces shelled eastern Jabalya city, north of the Gaza Strip, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.The statement, however, did not give further details about the circumstances of their death.The Israeli army did not issue any statement on the shelling.Since March, more than 150 Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli army gunfire during protests against the decades-long Israeli occupation and an 11-year blockade, which has gutted the Gaza economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
Two Gazans martyred in Israeli shelling
Israel released from prison on Sunday Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi who was jailed late last year after she was filmed kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank.Tamimi, 17, became a heroine to Palestinians after the Dec. 15 incident outside her home in the village of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on Facebook by her mother and went viral. She was 16 at the time.Galeri: Palestinian teen released from Israeli prisonShe faced 12 charges, including aggravated assault, and in March plead guilty to a reduced charge sheet that included assault. She was sentenced to eight months in jail.Video: Israel closes off Palestinian Ahed Tamimi’s trial to the public and justiceAn Israel Prison Service spokesman said Tamimi had left the Sharon prison and was enroute to the West Bank, where her family are veterans of protests against an Israeli settlement near their home.Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Most countries consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, something Israel disputes.
Israel releases Palestinian Ahed Tamimi from jail