Did President Abdel Fattah El Sisi broker a truce between Hamas and rival Fatah? President Abdel Fattah El Sisi apparently pushed for a new truce between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, according to reports which initially emerged in London-based Al Hayat. The proposal was presented to Fatah leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the latter’s visit last month. The agreement would see Hamas dissolve a committee which has subsumed roles by the PA in exchange for Abbas alleviating harsh measures taken in Gaza such as slashing the city’s power supply. A Hamas official confirmed to Ma’an news agency that the agreement had indeed been pitched by El Sisi and that Hamas had accepted the proposal. The official said, however, that Abbas had initially accepted the agreement only to renege on it after the trip and propose his own alternative. The story is receiving widespread coverage in the Israeli press.

Dahlan’s alliance with Hamas could have interesting implications for the region: The return of 55 year-old “Gulf-backed enforcer” Mohamed Dahlan to the forefront of the Palestinian political game in a partnership with Hamas is interesting for a number of reasons, Bloomberg writes in a profile. “The unlikely alliance could have broader implications for regional politics, from the showdown with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, to Egypt’s and Israel’s war on Islamic militants, to the future of the Palestinian Authority amid new questions surrounding the health of its 82-year-old leader,” the writers note.

In other “regional news” this morning: Israel wants to boot Al Jazeera out of the country and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani says his country is committed to the nuclear pact. Rouhani’s remarks came as he was sworn in for a second term on Saturday.