Egypt changed terms of Gaza ceasefire deal presented to Hamas, surprising negotiators, sources say

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 140 points – Sources say they were ‘duped’ by Egypt changing ceasefire terms for Hamas | CNN Politics
cnn.com

Egyptian intelligence quietly changed the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed off on earlier this month, ultimately scuttling a deal that could have released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, the sources said.

The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.

31

The three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that a senior Egyptian intelligence official named Ahmed Abdel Khalek was responsible for making the changes. Abdel Khalek is a senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, who has been Burns’ counterpart in leading Egypt’s mediation in the ceasefire talks.

One source familiar with the negotiations said Abdel Khalek told the Israelis one thing and Hamas another. More of Hamas’ demands were inserted into the original framework that Israel had tacitly agreed to in order to secure Hamas’ approval, the source said. But the other mediators were not informed; nor, critically, were the Israelis.

Oops?

In the age of secure electronic communications what's the point of untrusted intermediaries?

PGP the message and send it via some method.

How would you get the other party's public key?

The whole point of a public key is it can be publicized. Use any public publishing method, the more public the better.

Publicize/transmit it anywhere / everywhere you have plausible control or you can trace the origin of everything. Radio, newspapers, billboard, official website - multiple sources that all agree with each other should do it. You only need to do it once.

What was the change?

A Hamas document obtained by CNN outlining the version of the framework they agreed to included achieving a permanent ceasefire and a “sustainable calm” to be reached in the second phase of the three-stage deal. Israel has been averse to agreeing to discuss an end to the war before Hamas has been defeated and the remaining hostages are released from captivity.

Now, three weeks later, with ceasefire talks stalled, those involved are raising questions about the motives of Egypt, which for years has served as a key intermediary between Israel and Hamas, particularly Hamas members inside Gaza.

3 hostages per week for 6 weeks in return for an immediate withdrawal of all Israeli forces and a full end to the war.

In other words: 18 hostages, some of whom might be dead, and 114 who would never be returned.

This was not a minor change that could possibly be construed as testing which terms would be acceptable. This was a deliberate attempt to sabotage negotiations and produce a headline of "Hamas agrees to ceasefire" to avoid US pressure on Qatar to kick out Hamas leadership.

I thought this was already known and intentional?

They said Hamas accepted a watered down version of the original deal which was that it included a permanent ceasefire of which Israel refused to agree to.

The point of Egypt being an intermediary was to convince both sides to come to an agreement, so it doesn't really seem off that they would try changing requirements to see how each side would respond.

We knew the deal was changed, but not by who. (As far as I know.)

What in the world was Egypt thinking? 🤔 How would they profit from something this foolhardy?

It's possible there was some bribe money in it for Ahmed Abdel Khalek. Lots of money to be made by providing weapons for continuing conflict, easy to bribe a secondary official to make sure any agreements were derailed.

I forgot about personal greed! Very much a possibility.

I forgot about personal greed

Oh wow. Wherever you're living must be nice.

America was actively involved in these changes.

Also the reason israel didn't see them is because israel didn't send negotiators to Cairo.