Egypt has suspended truce talks it had been brokering between Hamas and Israel, apparently as a result of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' strident objection to any negotiations with Israel that don't include him.

The abrupt change in course raises fears that the situation in Gaza may worsen again, leading to further escalation with Israel.

Egypt expressed its sudden shift after a Sept. 1 meeting between Egyptian intelligence, Abbas and his Fatah party's leadership in Ramallah in the West Bank. Hamas administers the Gaza Strip and has been at odds with Abbas and Fatah since a violent split in 2007. Hamas is trying to ease the desperate conditions in Gaza that resulted from Israel's 11-year blockade and punitive measures Abbas has imposed.

Egypt's intelligence representative, Maj. Gen. Amr Hanafi, stressed after the Sept. 1 meeting that Egypt will maintain its efforts to achieve a Palestinian truce with Israel, but within a framework that acknowledges Abbas' authority. In the meantime, Cairo will focus on reconciling Hamas and Fatah. The factions supposedly agreed in theory in October to a rapprochement, but the process has sputtered futilely since then.