The US and Hamas held their first direct talks since the Gaza ceasefire as part of efforts to advance the fragile US-brokered agreement, two Hamas sources said.
A delegation led by senior US advisor Aryeh Lightstone met chief Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo on Tuesday night, according to the sources. Lightstone was joined by Nickolay Mladenov, the US-backed Board of Peace’s High Representative for Gaza, officials said. CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.
Al-Hayya, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in the Qatari capital Doha last September, pressed Lightstone about the need for Israel to fully implement its commitments to the first phase of the agreement —…