Palestinian negotiator says Cairo talks failed, blames Israel

CAIRO (Reuters) – The head Palestinian negotiator in Cairo, Azzam al-Ahmed, said on Wednesday that talks for a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict had failed and the delegates were leaving Egypt.

Speaking after a truce in the fighting lapsed at midnight (2100 GMT), Azzam al-Ahmed of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s mainstream Fatah movement, said “Israel thwarted the contacts that could have brought peace … there was an Israeli decision to make the Cairo talks fail.”

Israel withdrew its delegates from Egypt earlier in response to renewed rocket fire from Gaza.