Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his thanks to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for Cairo’s efforts in calming down the situation, helping reconstruct the Gaza Strip and aiming to return to the political track of ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine’s territories, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Saturday.

Abbas' remarks came during his meeting on Saturday at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah with an Egyptian security delegation that was briefed on the latest developments in the Palestinian territories, according to WAFA.

An Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire deal, which was praised by regional and international countries, has been reached between Israel and the Palestinian factions to end an 11-day military operation in the Gaza Strip. It came into effect as of Friday 21st May at 2am (23:00 GMT) Palestinian time.

Few hours after reaching ceasefire, Egypt sent two security delegations – which are set to monitor the ceasefire – to the Palestinians and Israelis to consolidate the Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Gaza and to ensure that none of the two sides would breach it in the future.

During his meeting with the Egyptian security delegation, Abbas discussed developments related to the calm in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank, and coordinating efforts in seeking reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, as well as the issues related to arranging the internal Palestinian scene.

On 18 May, El-Sisi announced the allocation of $500 million as part of an Egyptian initiative for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip – with the involvement of Egyptian companies – where tens of buildings had been destroyed leaving hundreds of Palestinians homeless in the enclave due to the Israeli 11-day heavy air strikes that caused the death of more than 250 Palestinians.

The Egyptian initiative would also include training young Palestinian cadres in developmental programmes in order to become acquainted with the latest developments in management, leadership and technology, as according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency.

The Egyptian delegation conveyed on Saturday the greetings of El-Sisi to his Palestinian counterpart Abbas and to the people of Palestine, WAFA said.

The Egyptian security delegation's meeting with Abbas witnessed the attendance of Minister Hussein El-Sheikh, Chairman of the Palestinian Civil Affairs Commission and Member of the Executive Committee of the Fatah Movement, along with Maged Farag, Palestinian Intelligence Chief.