Hamas chief has arrived in Cairo for talks Gazans hope could bring a truce in time to head off a full-blown assault on the city.

The arrival of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Cairo this week for his first publicly announced visit since December was the strongest sign for weeks that negotiations have not been abandoned. Haniyeh has met Egyptian officials involved in mediating, but so far little has been said in public, Reuters reports.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters that Israel was now backtracking on terms Israel had already accepted at the start of February in a ceasefire offer hammered out with the United States and Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Paris.

“The occupation is not interested in achieving any agreement,” he said, accusing Netanyahu of ignoring the issue of freeing captives in a prisoner swap.

“All he is concerned about is continuing the execution of Palestinians in Gaza.”