Israel-Palestine ceasefire dialogue postponed

An indirect dialogue, reinforcing a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestine, has been postponed, an official said Sunday.

Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic leader from Gaza, said in a statement that Egypt has postponed the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian factions until further notice due to the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula, Xinhua reported.

He said that talks on restoring calm and peace in the Gaza Strip, building a seaport and an airport as well as the process of Gaza reconstruction, were scheduled to start in Cairo Monday.

On Friday, 30 Egyptian soldiers were killed in a series of attacks by extremist militants in Sinai.

The Egyptian authorities Saturday shut down the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip until further notice, and launched a large-scale military operation in the peninsula.

The indirect Israeli-Palestinian dialogue was a resumption of talks that led to an Egypt-brokered ceasefire agreement, which ended the 50-day Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in August.

More than 2,000 Palestinians were killed, 11,000 injured and over 100,000 displaced during the conflict

A total of 73 Israelis were also killed during the offensive.