GAZA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A top Hamas movement leader unveiled on Tuesday that an Egyptian security intelligence delegation set the timetable for implementing a calm understanding recently reached with Israel.
Ismail Haniyeh, the politburo chief of the Islamic movement, told a group of writers and analysts during a meeting held in Gaza earlier Tuesday that Hamas received the timetable of implementing calm in the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side.
"The Egyptian delegation, which has been holding marathon talks over the past few days to defuse tension between the Palestinian factions and Israel, delivered last night the timetable for implementing the calm deal," said Haniyeh.
He went on saying that his movement and the Palestinian factions "will observe the extent of the Israeli occupation's commitment towards the implementation of the calm understanding."
"It is so important for the Palestinian people in Gaza to see and feel a tangible achievement better than hearing about it," said Haniyeh, adding that "regional and international efforts are still exerted until the Palestinians demands are achieved."
A senior Egyptian security intelligence delegation arrived in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening and left at night after holding talks with Hamas leaders that lasted for more than three hours.
The Palestinians demands are related to relaxing an Israeli blockade that had been imposed on the Gaza Strip right after Hamas seized control of the coastal enclave and routed the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Egypt, the United Nations and Qatar have been involved over the past few months in brokering a truce between Israel and Gaza factions, led by Hamas movement, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Meanwhile, Haniyeh affirmed that Hamas "is ready to negotiate a prisoners' swap deal with (Israel) in condition that Israel has to release all the prisoners who were arrested after they had been released in the old deal reached in 2011."
Israel said that Hamas is holding four Israelis - two soldiers and two civilians, while Hamas had said that it won't give any data on the living condition of the four until Israel released all the prisoners it arrested after they were released in last deal.
In 2011, Egypt brokered a prisoners' swap deal between Hamas and Israel, where Israel released from its prisons around 1,000 prisoners for freeing an Israeli corporal who was held captive in Gaza in 2006.
