As soon as the Hamas movement submitted its response to the proposed scenario of concluding a prisoner exchange deal between the occupation government and the resistance in Gaza, to the mediators in Egypt and Qatar concerned with the Gaza discussions, a series of meetings and communications began between the mediators and the parties to the crisis, in an attempt to reach an agreement as quickly as possible. In order to defuse the explosion of the situation in the region and the expansion of the circle of conflict, amid the escalation of military actions on the Lebanon front, and the threats of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to launch a large-scale military operation in Rafah.

Gaza talks: fruitful meetings for Hamas in Cairo

In this context, the Hamas delegation, which began a visit to Cairo, held joint marathon meetings with those responsible for the mediation file in Egypt and Qatar, to explain the point of view of the resistance and Hamas regarding the response presented to the prisoner exchange offer.

Egyptian sources familiar with the Gaza talks revealed, in interviews with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper, that “the meetings held by the movement’s delegation in Cairo were fruitful,” noting that “Egyptian estimates of the response presented by the resistance consider it to be very realistic, in contrast to What the American administration or the Israeli side sees, and that the points that the Egyptian officials find difficult to pass do not exceed two points at the maximum, and that they can be resolved in a quick time, if the political will is available on the Israeli side, and these negotiations are removed from the circle of internal political conflict in Israel."

An informed Egyptian source revealed that “the Israeli government was surprised by the form of the response that Hamas submitted to the mediators,” saying: “There was a perception or expectation among the Israeli War Council that Hamas would provide a brief response of approval or rejection of the framework agreement, followed by an indirect negotiation process.” To formulate the details, but Hamas surprised everyone by responding by formulating very precise details of the stages proposed by the Paris meeting in general, without going into details.

He continued: “Perhaps the form of the response of Hamas and the resistance factions is what caused confusion within the Israeli government, which was preparing to prolong the process of negotiating a ceasefire and releasing the prisoners, in a way that would make it emerge from the impasse it faces in front of the families of the prisoners and the opposition, as well as the American administration.” 

In contrast, the Egyptian source revealed that “the leaks contained in the Israeli media regarding the Israeli government’s refusal to withdraw from Gaza to the separation fence or to allow the return of residents to the northern and central regions are incorrect,” saying that “the occupation government, represented by the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, has expressed its willingness to accept this during the Paris meeting.”

The source explained that “the most prominent Israeli objections are represented in two parts of the movement’s response. One of them is what the occupation government describes as a summary of all the demands of the resistance that are binding on Israel in the first stage, while keeping the marginal points for the rest of the stages, while postponing the release of all prisoners until the last stages to prolong the duration of the agreement, and that so far Israel has refused to make any pledges regarding engaging in serious negotiations for a comprehensive ceasefire after the first phase of the agreement.”

The Egyptian source revealed that “what is being raised about Israel’s refusal to send a representative delegation to Cairo is not accurate,” noting that the next few days “will witness the arrival of an Israeli delegation to determine the position of Hamas and the resistance, following the meetings that Cairo witnessed, in order to develop a paper with complete points that require further negotiation and consultation, before CIA Director William Burns arrives in Cairo.”

Double Duty by William Burns

The source also revealed that Burns "will come to Cairo on a dual mission. In addition to the mission of advancing the Gaza talks and the negotiation process between the occupation government and Hamas and working to resolve the controversial points, he will also work to ease the Egyptian-American atmosphere in the wake of President Joe Biden's statements that caused embarrassment to the Egyptian leadership." During which he indicated that he convinced Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to open the Rafah crossing for aid after Sisi rejected that step.

Biden said in a surprise speech at the White House that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi did not initially want to open the Rafah crossing for aid to enter Gaza, but he spoke to him and convinced him to open it, according to what he said.

The sources said, “With regard to the current course of negotiations, Egyptian officials have ended their meetings with the Hamas delegation that recently visited Cairo to discuss the response to the paper on the Paris proposal, by reaching positive understandings, but the crisis is centered around the hardline position of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government towards reaching an agreement.” The sources suggested that "Netanyahu will not stop firing, at the present time," saying that "it is unlikely that he will submit to the warnings of the United States and the warnings of neighboring countries."

In this context, Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Issam Abdel Shafi, told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, “The conditions presented by the Hamas movement are linked to a set of basic files that express what the movement sought to achieve from this process, which is the file of prisoners in the first place, then the reconstruction file, then the file of lifting the siege, as well as the Al-Aqsa Mosque file, in addition to what is also related to restoring the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, and these are the basic files included in the demands.”

Abdel Shafi stressed that “those demands were not as high as the American President said, when he said that they were somewhat exaggerated, but Netanyahu came out in his press conference to express his reservations about these demands, and I will not say that he rejected them, and that he would continue military operations until what was achieved.” He called it overwhelming victory. In my view, this is a language for local consumption, with which he addresses the interior and does not address external parties, because he knows that as long as he accepts entering into these negotiations, concessions must be made.”

Regarding the visit of the Palestinian delegation headed by the leader of the movement, Khalil Al-Hayya, to Egypt, the political science professor said that it “comes within the framework of completing these negotiations, and from my point of view, things are moving towards signing an interim truce agreement.”

In another context, a leader in the Hamas movement confirmed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the movement is “serious about reaching understandings with the Palestinian Authority regarding the perceptions of the next day in Gaza after the cessation of the aggression.” He explained that the movement “delivered to Cairo a vision that includes its vision for managing the Gaza Strip after the end of the aggression,” saying: “Hamas is serious about not being at the forefront and not adhering to managing the Strip in a Palestinian-Palestinian solution without external interference,” stressing that the movement “does not oppose the formation of a national unity government  responsible for managing the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”