Shin Bet head met with Egypt intel chief over stalled hostage deal talks – report
Ronen Bar said to hold discussions in Cairo with Abbas Kamel on engaging with Hamas’s Sinwar, resolving contentious issues of Rafah Border Crossing and Philadelphi Corridor
Shin Bet director Ronen Bar met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in in Cairo on Sunday, the Walla outlet reported, citing “a source familiar with the visit.”
The two discussed the stalled negotiations for a hostage-ceasefire deal, but did not reach any breakthroughs, the report said.
The two reportedly discussed ways to renew talks and engage with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is said to have recently made contact with mediator Qatar after having gone silent for several weeks in Gaza.
On the agenda was the topic of the Rafah Border Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which has been shuttered since May when the IDF launched its offensive in the southern Gaza city, the report said.
Also under discussion was the so-called Philadelphi Corridor which runs along the Gaza-Egypt border and is now, likewise, under Israeli military control.
The Shin Bet declined to comment on the report.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that he will not agree to a deal that required Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor, citing the need to prevent Hamas from smuggling in weapons from Egypt via tunnels. Last month, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the IDF could withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor for six weeks in a deal to free the hostages without endangering security.
Walla noted that Bar’s trip was the first visit by a senior Israel official to Egypt for ceasefire talks since August 22. Then, the Shin Bet and Mossad heads were in Cairo to discuss IDF deployment along the Philadelphia Corridor and the reopening of Rafah crossing as part of a potential deal. Those talks did not come to anything, and tensions between Israel and Egypt have only become more fraught since then.
Sinwar’s prolonged disappearance has also been seen as causing a delay in talks.
Attempts to reach another hostage deal with Hamas — following one in November that saw 105 hostages released during a weeklong truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners — have repeatedly failed and have largely gone stagnant as Israel has shifted its focus to fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. A year ago, the terrorist organization’s near-daily rocket and drone attacks that it said were in solidarity with Hamas.
The US and Israel also say that Hamas is not currently interested in a deal.
On Sunday, families of Hamas hostages marked one year since October 7, 2023, at an event attended by foreign diplomats at the headquarters of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv.
The goal of the event was to draw “global attention” to the plight of the hostages, the forum said, and to “reinforce the urgent need for action to secure the release of those still held captive.”
The government has faced allegations — including by defense officials, hostage families, and other informed sources — that it is not doing enough to bring about a deal aimed at freeing the approximately 100 hostages still in Gaza.
Those allegations continued Sunday, with Haaretz citing unnamed defense officials as accusing the government of neglecting hostage negotiations with Hamas, instead prolonging the war as part of a possible plan to seize and resettle part of the Strip.
The officials claimed that the political leadership hasn’t brought up the issue of the hostages with international mediators since the last round of negotiations collapsed in August.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied accusations that Israel is seeking to reestablish civilian settlements within the enclave as it battles Hamas, but far-right members of his cabinet have openly pushed to reverse Israel’s 2005 pullout of civilians and troops from Gaza.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.