Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas disclosed on Thursday officials from the Hamas were holding meetings with Israel to end the blockade of Gaza Strip and ease access for goods and people. Israel denied the meetings had taken place, saying there was a policy of avoiding contact with Hamas.
Asked by Al-Arabiya channel if he was aware of such meetings, Abbas said: "There are meetings taking place between Hamas and Israel, there were meetings held on Erez (crossing point) and there are ongoing meetings in other places."
Abbas gave no further details of the Gaza discussions.
On his part, Israeli Defense Ministry Official Shlomo Dror said, according to Reuters: "This is absolutely untrue. We do not have any meetings with Hamas. Indeed, there is a strict policy of avoiding all contacts with Hamas."
"The last meeting we held with Palestinians at Erez was with businesspeople who have no connections to Hamas. These were people known to us. "We don't have security information on every single person. If we find out someone is from Hamas, we have nothing to do with him."
Meanwhile, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday approved an Israeli plan for limited cuts in electricity to Gaza Strip to counter continued rocket fire from the territory, officials said.
Barak's approval was the last step needed for the sanctions to go into effect. Under the plan, Israel will cut electricity for increasing lengths of time each time a Palestinian rocket is fired into Israel.
