Hamas ‘seizes Israeli spy dolphin’ off Gaza

Earlier this week, a flurry of reports that Israel and Hamas were on the verge of signing a long-term deal led to official denials from Jerusalem and to deep concern among Fatah officials in the West Bank. Israel’s Shin Bet (internal security) announced that in July they’d apprehended a 21-year-old Hamas operative named Ibrahim Adel Shehadeh Shaer who gave them a trove of information about Hamas’s continued plans for warfare against Israel.

Talks are being centered on reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, lifting Israel’s siege, opening the crossings, giving salaries to the employees, and building a seaport and an airport.

According to Gaza border official Khaled al-Shaer, the Egyptian authorities have told Gaza’s Hamas-run government that the crossing would be reopened again for three days in September to allow the Palestinian Muslims to perform the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Meshaal added that the talks did not level any agreement until the moment.

Tamimi, who has been briefed on the ongoing discussions, argued that the visit should have gone ahead.

The Palestinian newspaper Al Quds reported that the commandos became wary when they spotted the dolphin making “suspicious movements” just outside the port of Gaza. “He’s looking after Israel’s interests”.

The warning came amid reports that Mashaal and Blair have reached understandings regarding a proposed truce.

A picture taken on August 3, 2014 shows a Palestinian man standing at the morgue of a hospital in Rafah over the bodies of some of the nine members of the same family killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza Strip.

Once the temporary informal ceasefire was established immediately after the last war, both Israel and Hamas carefully observed it. In fact, Hamas’ internal security personnel have systematically been arresting and sometime shooting to kill jihadists who violate the ceasefire.

The revelation that Blair, with the full knowledge of Cameron, has invited the political head of Hamas to Britain will complicate the British prime minister’s attempts to fold the Jenkin’s report into a package of anti-extremist measures in September.