While the Israeli government on Thursday directed its negotiators to resume talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage swap deal, Egypt doubted Israel’s seriousness about concluding a “deal” with Hamas.
“The Israeli position is still not ready for a ceasefire and hostage swap deal,” a high-ranking Egyptian source told the Cairo News channel.
Earlier, media reports said the Israeli government decided to resume the “Gaza truce” negotiations and a hostage swap deal.
This came after Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egyptian State Information Service, said on Wednesday night that “Attempts to cast doubt and offend Egypt’s mediation efforts... will only lead to further complications of the situation in Gaza and the entire region and may push Egypt to completely withdraw from its mediation in the current conflict.”
Several experts told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday that Egypt’s threats could have pushed Israel to resume talks with mediators.
However, they doubted the seriousness of Israel's sudden decision to continue negotiations, describing the move as “a new maneuver that serves Israel’s own interests.”
Hamas has lately accepted a proposal by mediators for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange. But, Israel said the proposal remained “far from” meeting its demands and warned its military operations in Rafah would continue.
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement: “The war cabinet has instructed the negotiation team to continue negotiations to return the hostages.”
The Walla website reported that Israel has also presented “amended guidelines for its negotiating team.”
However, it neither revealed details or explained the reasons for Israel’s sudden decision to continue negotiations. The website also failed to say whether the Israel negotiating team carries a new proposal or has returned with amendments to Cairo’s previous proposal.
On Thursday, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in an interview that Egypt is “an important country for Israel.”
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been for months trying to strike a phased agreement between Israel and Hamas that would lead to truce in Gaza and the gradual release of Israeli hostages held in the territory.
Former Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister, Ambassador Rakha Ahmed Hassan, considered Israel's sudden return to negotiations as a new US-Israeli maneuver to face international condemnations for the failure of both countries to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel wants to continue negotiations for its own interests,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Hassan also said that the Israeli negotiation team might return for talks with new proposals, different from the Cairo initiative that was supposed to be implemented in three phases.
He assumed that Egypt’s threats could have pushed this new course of negotiations.
The threats of the head of the State Information Service, to completely withdraw from mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas, have pushed the Israeli government to direct its negotiation team to continue negotiations, Hassan noted.
He then affirmed that negotiations will resume soon.
“Cairo will adhere to clear points related to the Israeli withdrawal from the Rafah crossing and the Salah al-Din (Philadelphia) axis to bring about serious talks,” Hassan said.
In return, Bashir Abdel-Fattah, a Researcher at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that Israel's return to negotiations should not be accompanied by optimism.
“Israel is only trying to buy time and show the world its faith in peace,” he said.
