Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman met with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Cyprus last June to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli sources said Wednesday.
The Walla news site said the meeting has discussed the possibility of constructing a seaport in Cyprus for Gaza as part of a possible long-term truce between Israel and Hamas movement.
The site said the plane used by the Qatari minister during his international diplomatic tour in Europe and the United States had made a secret flight from Italy to Cyprus on June 23, while Lieberman was there to hold talks with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts and with the island state’s president.
When asked about the report, Lieberman’s office responded by saying it “doesn’t comment on the minister’s meetings.”
Earlier this month, Channel 10 reported that Lieberman had met secretly with Qatar’s envoy to Gaza Mohammed al-Emadi in Cyprus to discuss the Palestinian enclave’s humanitarian crisis and the return of captive Israeli civilians and remains of fallen soldiers held by Hamas.
The reports come as Egypt seeks to reach a deal on lifting the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza since Hamas seized control of the coastal territory from the internationally backed Palestinian Authority in 2007.
