Egyptian, Palestinian leaders meet amid likely Gaza shakeup

Egyptian and Palestinian leaders have met amid signs of a rapprochement between Cairo and the Islamic militant Hamas group that could shake up Gaza’s political landscape and sideline the Palestinian president.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi met Sunday.

Officials close to Abbas said the Palestinian leader had requested the meeting to seek clarifications on what appears to be an emerging power-sharing agreement between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and an exiled Abbas rival, former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan.

Under the deal — parts of which have been confirmed by other parties involved — Hamas would retain control over Gaza’s security, while Dahlan would eventually return to Gaza and handle its foreign relations.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.