Israeli team visits Cairo for hostage-truce talks with Egyptian mediators
High-level delegation meets with officials in Egypt after Netanyahu gives green light; Qatar reportedly sitting out this round over Haniyeh’s killing
A high-level Israeli delegation reportedly visited Cairo on Saturday for indirect talks with American and Egyptian negotiators on reaching a hostage-truce deal in the Gaza Strip with the Hamas terror group, according to multiple reports in Hebrew media outlets.
The Walla news site reported that Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea, Shin Bet security agency head Ronen Bar and Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), held meetings in Cairo with Egyptian Intelligence head Abbas Kamel and senior Egyptian military officials.
Discussions were to focus on the release of hostages, as well as security issues regarding the Egypt-Gaza border, according to the sources quoted in the report, which came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday evening that he had approved the delegation’s participation in renewed indirect talks.
The results of the meeting were unclear as of Saturday evening.
Channel 12 quoted a senior source familiar with the negotiations saying, “This was a trip solely for reasons of protocol, playing for time. Netanyahu’s current positions will not yield real progress.” But Army Radio cited another unnamed source with knowledge of the meeting as calling it “significant,” with progress on issues relating the the Gaza-Egypt border.
Hamas was quick to brush off Netanyahu’s announcement, with senior official Sami Abu Zuhri telling Reuters, “Netanyahu does not want to stop the war and is using these empty statements to cover up his crimes and evade their consequences.”
Netanyahu’s statement came immediately after a Channel 12 news report Friday that claimed he had rejected calls from his security chiefs to seize the current opportunity for a deal, and after Axios reported that US President Joe Biden pressed the Israeli premier in their call on Thursday to stop escalating tensions in the region and move immediately toward a deal.
The Walla report added that Qatar was sitting out this round of talks in Cairo due to political sensitivity, having just buried Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha on Friday after he was assassinated in Qatar early Wednesday, in a strike widely ascribed to Israel.
The participation of the Israeli team followed heavy pressure from the Biden administration on both Jerusalem and Cairo to continue the talks despite Haniyeh’s death, according to the sources, a week after Netanyahu returned from a trip to Washington.
Axios also reported that the Biden administration was frustrated that it was kept in the dark by Israel about the assassination plans after Netanyahu gave the impression in Washington last week that he was taking on board the president’s ardor to close a deal with Hamas in Gaza.
While Israel has claimed responsibility for killing Hezbollah’s military chief Fuad Shukr in Beirut on Tuesday night, it has not officially commented on the assassination of Haniyeh, which Hamas, Iran and their allies have blamed on the Jewish state.
Despite the US pressure, the sources quoted by Walla said that Netanyahu does not believe the Cairo talks are likely to bear fruit, and as such chose not to send the IDF point man for the hostage talks, Nitzan Alon, as part of the delegation.
The countries acting as mediators for the Gaza deal warned on Wednesday that the strikes on senior terrorist leaders could get in the way of an agreement.
“Political assassinations & continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” wrote Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on X. “Peace needs serious partners & a global stance against the disregard for human life.”
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said that the strikes undermine “the strenuous efforts made by Egypt and its partners to stop the war in the Gaza Strip,” and “indicate the absence of Israeli political will to calm the situation.”
Washington, which sponsors the talks, has repeatedly said a deal is close. The latest talks are based on an Israel-backed proposal unveiled by Biden in May. But the US did not indicate any concern on Wednesday that the assassinations would hold up negotiations. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would only say that a ceasefire in Gaza was “the enduring imperative.”
Hamas wants a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, while Israel has vowed that the conflict will stop only once the hostages are released and Hamas is defeated. There have also been enduring disagreements over how the deal would be implemented.
