Progress made on Palestinians missing in Sinai: Haniyeh

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Progress is being made regarding the issue of four young Palestinian men abducted by gunmen in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in 2015, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday.

In a statement, Haniyeh said that the issue was raised during his recent talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo.

In August of 2015, unidentified gunmen abducted the four as they took a bus through ​​Sinai from the Rafah border crossing to Cairo.

At the time, Hamas had held the Egyptian authorities responsible for the safety of the four young men, urging Cairo to work towards securing their release.

The fate of the four missing men, however, remains unknown until now.

On Wednesday, Haniyeh and an accompanying delegation returned to Gaza following a three-week visit to Cairo for discussions with Egyptian officials.

Upon Haniyeh’s return to Gaza, group spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanoua stated: “Hamas is satisfied with the results of the visit; Egypt understands our position on a range of issues.”

Recent months have seen an uptick in diplomatic activity involving Egypt, Israel, the Ramallah-based Palestinian government and Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007.