Israeli team returns to Cairo for Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal talks as north erupts
Israeli official says US pressuring Jerusalem to send message it doesn’t seek wider war, is still interested in talks seen as key to keeping fighting from spreading regionwide
Senior Israeli negotiators were heading to Cairo Sunday to resume talks aimed at wrapping up a hostage release and truce deal in Gaza, despite a large-scale attack by the Hezbollah terror group bolstering concerns of all-out war in the region.
The delegation was set to be led by Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel, with the US pressing Israel to smother any bombastic rhetoric and make a public show of support for the talks.
The Israeli team will be in Cairo a day after a delegation from the Hamas terror group traveled there to be updated by Egyptian and Qatari officials, following two weeks of talks between Israeli negotiators and mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar aimed at bridging remaining gaps in a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
Talks have largely centered on Israeli demands regarding a military presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, to prevent smuggling. Both Egypt and Hamas reject an Israeli presence along the border.
According to the Israeli official, the US is applying significant pressure on Israel to wrap up a deal in order to prevent a larger war from breaking out across the region.
Israelis got a taste of what that larger war could look like Sunday morning as Hezbollah took aim at the north and center of the country, launching 210 rockets and 20 drones over Israel’s northern border, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The missiles were meant to be part of a larger attack that would have seen rocket fire rain down on the Tel Aviv region early Sunday, but Israel said it took out some 1,000 Hezbollah rocket launchers in a coordinated sortie of 100 Israeli fighter jets early Sunday to thwart much of the planned assault.
Some of the projectiles were intercepted, while others impacted, causing damage and minor injuries. Many rockets also struck open areas.
The IDF did not immediately release information on possible casualties among troops in the attack.
The attacks, which Hezbollah said could be followed by more launches later in the week, were claimed as revenge for Israel’s killing of Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr late last month.
According to the Israeli official, Washington was urging Israel put out messages indicating it is not looking for a major escalation with Hezbollah and is still interested in a hostage deal with Hamas.
An unnamed Israeli source was quoted by Channel 12 news saying as much Sunday morning: “This is not an attack aimed at starting a war, but rather removing a serious threat to millions of Israeli citizens,” the network quoted the source saying.
The Israeli official who spoke to The Times of Israel Sunday indicated that Jerusalem was willing to pursue talks as long as there is a chance they will succeed, but was less than optimistic that Hamas will agree to a deal.
Officials have pinned hopes on a Gaza ceasefire deal ending some 10 months of near-daily rocket fire from Hezbollah and keeping the sides from engaging in all-out war, which analysts believe could dwarf the Gaza war in intensity and draw in other Iranian proxies or Tehran itself.
There are also hopes — backed by Iranian comments — that a deal would also void promises from the Islamic Republic to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, which it has blamed on Israel.
On Friday, a White House spokesman said progress in the talks had been made, but a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters Saturday that the sides remained far apart.
“The talks in Cairo didn’t make any progress. Israel is insisting to keep eight positions along the Philadelphi corridor,” the Palestinian official said.
According to Army Radio, Israel did manage to close gaps with Cairo over the Rafah Border Crossing, which has been shuttered since Israel occupied the Palestinian side of the Gaza-Egypt border in May.
Though a ceasefire deal will ultimately have to be made between Israel and Hamas, discussions this week centered on finding a formula that Jerusalem and Cairo could agree upon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that an Israeli presence on the Philadelphi Corridor — the 14-kilometer (9-mile) buffer strip that separates Egypt from Israel and the Gaza Strip — is vital to preventing Hamas from rearming, while Hamas and Egypt want to see Israeli forces withdraw entirely.
The Israeli official said Israel and Egypt had agreed that Israeli troops would withdraw from positions near populated areas but will not have to abandon the border area entirely.
However, the the Saudi-owned Al Hadath outlet reported Sunday that Egyptian mediators told Hamas officials that Cairo still rejects any permanent Israeli presence along the border corridor.
According to the report, Egypt is demanding Israel relinquish control of the Rafah Border Crossing during the first days of a possible ceasefire.
Egypt-based Alghad TV reported Saturday that Israel had notified Cairo it was prepared to withdraw from five of the eight locations discussed along the Philadelphi Corridor. There was no other confirmation of the report.
On Friday, Axios reported that in a phone call with US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu agreed to change the location of one IDF position and move it by a few hundred meters, in a way that would not affect Israel’s operational control of the border. In response, Biden is said to have backed Netanyahu’s demand that IDF troops continue to hold the rest of the border in the first stage of a deal.
Two Arab officials from mediating countries earlier told The Times of Israel that the US bridging proposal over-catered to Jerusalem’s concerns regarding troops along Philadelphi. A Netanyahu aide said the US offer indeed addressed Israel’s security needs.
Other remaining points of contention include Israel’s demand for a mechanism to ensure armed Palestinians do not return to northern Gaza to regroup, Hamas’s insistence that a ceasefire be permanent, and the number and identities of hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be freed in each stage.
Meeting with former hostages and relatives of captives on Friday, Netanyahu appeared to pour cold water on hopes for an agreement, saying no acceptable deal was currently on the table.
“What deal? Which deal?” the premier was heard saying in a leaked recording from the meeting aired by Channel 12 news. “Whoever told you that there was a [hostage-ceasefire] deal on the table and that we didn’t take it for this reason or that reason, for personal reasons, it’s just a lie.”
Critics have accused Netanyahu of dragging his feet on ending fighting to avoid the political fallout of a postwar commission of inquiry into his government’s failures or the collapse of his coalition, despite the dire state of hostages still held in Gaza.
Speaking at a weekly rally of freed hostages, relatives and allies in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid joined others pushing the government to seal a deal.
“Mr. Prime Minister, go to Cairo yourself, don’t send anybody. Close a deal now,” he said.
Gianluca Pacchiani, Emanuel Fabian and Reuters contributed to this report.
