Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi met with Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns and rejected a proposal to manage security in the Gaza Strip until the Palestinian Authority can take over after Hamas’s defeat, the Wall Street Journal reports citing senior Egyptian officials.

Sisi and the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, discussed the proposal with Burns, who visited Cairo as part of a Middle East tour to discuss the situation in Gaza.

The Egyptian president said his government would not play a role in eliminating Hamas as it needs the group to help maintain security at the country’s border with the Gaza Strip, the officials were quoted as saying.

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