Hamas leaders arrive in Egypt, greet released terrorist prisoners, meet with Egyptian officials

A delegation from Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been visiting Cairo in recent days to attend a reception for security prisoners released from Israeli prisons as part of the hostage release ceasefire deal. 

The delegation includes senior Hamas leaders such as the head of Hamas’ political office abroad, Khaled Meshaal, the Turkey-based head of Hamas' Shura Council, Mohammed Darwish, secretary general of the Palestinian Resistance Committees Ayman al-Shashaniyah Abu Yasser, and the Popular Democratic Front leader Jamil Mazhar. It also includes prominent members of the group's leadership council and negotiating team. 

According to Lebanese news site The National, the Hamas delegates met with senior Egyptian intelligence officials on Monday night, and are scheduled to meet with them again on Tuesday to discuss efforts to secure a permanent truce as part of phase two of the Gaza ceasefire. 

Palestinian news site Quds Net posted a video of the Hamas leaders meeting with some of the terrorists released to Egypt in the ceasefire deal. 

جانب من لقاء وفد قيادة حركة حمـــــاس بالأسرى المحررين المبعدين في مصر. pic.twitter.com/KNsljk5Pw7

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) January 27, 2025

The visit by the Palestinian terror group leaders comes after statements by U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday and again on Monday, calling on Arab nations, particularly Egypt and Jordan, to receive displaced Palestinians from Gaza. 

Trump’s statements were rejected by both Egypt and Jordan, as well as Hamas. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said it rejects “any infringement on those inalienable rights, whether by settlement or annexation of land, or by the depopulation of that land of its people through displacement, encouraged transfer or the uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term.” 

The Arab League echoed the Egyptian government’s statement by saying, “Attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land, whether by displacement, annexation or settlement expansion, have been proven to fail in the past.” 

Hamas official Basem Naim said the Palestinian “resistance," along with the Palestinian people would resist any attempts to impose a non-Palestinian government over the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, senior Hamas political officer Moussa Abu Marzouk told Saudi news outlet Al Arabiya that the terror group is open to discussing the establishment of a governing body to run the Gaza Strip after the ceasefire finishes. 

However, Hamas has previously discussed a joint committee with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern the Strip. Israel rejects any role for Hamas in the governance of Gaza following the ceasefire.

The Israeli government also does not trust the PA to successfully govern the Palestinian enclave, and prefers a governing committee which includes oversight by moderate Arab states like the United Arab Emirates. 

Abu Marzouk also rejected Trump’s call for relocating Gaza residents. 

“No Palestinian or Arab will accept Trump’s idea of displacement,” he stated, “it will not succeed.”