Egyptian sources told the newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Jadid on Tuesday morning that an Israeli delegation recently visited Cairo at the same time as a Hamas delegation visited last week. All this while the media leaks details about an Egyptian outline for an agreement to release hostages.
An Egyptian source told the pro-Qatari newspaper that the Israeli delegation in Cairo included "the person in charge of the missing and captive portfolio in the Israeli government." According to him, the mission of the delegation was to closely examine Hamas' position on the matter and what was proposed regarding a comprehensive ceasefire and the release of hostages. The head of the Hamas delegation was Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas' political bureau, who left Cairo for Doha a few days ago.
IDF Spokesperson
According to the Egyptian source, the Israeli delegation wanted to know whether Hamas rejected the details of the proposals for a truce in a way that would allow amendments to be made to some of the points or whether Hamas rejected the partial proposals altogether. He added: "The proposal, which included two stages in the negotiations, was not completely rejected by Hamas. Both phases included a comprehensive ceasefire and the subsequent withdrawal of IDF forces to the lines prior to the ground maneuver."
Moreover, the Egyptian source revealed that "the American administration has stepped up contacts through Egypt and Qatar out of concern that the conflict will expand." He was referring to a war on maritime trade corridors that include not only incidents in the Red Sea, but also "actions by the pro-Iranian axis in the Mediterranean."
Houthi rebel militiaman in the background of a ship in the Red Sea, Photo: AP
Finally, the Egyptian official clarified that there is now a stalemate in the talks and that the mediators are waiting for a new position from Israel following a meeting of the war cabinet on Monday. According to him, cabinet members were supposed to discuss the details of the visit of the Israeli delegation to Cairo.
Yesterday, a senior Islamic Jihad official, Mohammed al-Hind, said that Palestinian terrorist groups had not yet responded to the Egyptian proposal and would examine it. On the other hand, the Qatari Al-Jazeera network reported on a message conveyed by Hamas head in Gaza Yahya Sinwar to the head of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, who visited Cairo. Sinwar made it clear to him that Hamas' military-terrorist wing in the Gaza Strip did not intend to "surrender to the conditions" of Israel.
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