CAIRO
A Palestinian negotiator has rejected any negotiations with Israel on disarming the resistance or swapping corpses during a new round of indirect talks in Cairo this month.
"Negotiation on disarming or swapping corpses is not on the table," Qais Abdel-Karim told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
A member of the Palestinian negotiating team had earlier told AA that Israel had asked during a previous round of negotiations to swap 25 Palestinian prisoners and 18 dead Palestinians with the bodies of two Israeli soldiers allegedly held by Hamas.
But Abdel-Karim said that "We don't have any information about Israeli allegations".
On July 7, Israel launched a seven-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave.
Over the course of the 51-day onslaught, more than 2,150 Palestinians were killed – mostly civilians – and nearly 11,000 injured, while thousands of homes across the territory were partially or totally destroyed.
Over the same period, at least 73 Israelis – 68 soldiers and five civilians – were killed by Palestinian fighters or rocket fire.
The offensive finally ended on August 26 with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire deal that was celebrated by resistance faction Hamas as a strategic victory over Israel.
By Hagar al-Dosoki
www.aa.com.tr/en
