(Cairo) Ahmed Abdel Khalek a Egyptian intelligence official sunk a potential cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas earlier this month by secretly changing its terms before handing it between the warring sides. it appears he changed the deal after Israel had already agreed to it by adding in more of Hamas' demands to the framework to clinch their approval.
One of the biggest points of contention in
the deal was a call for "sustainable calm" to be reached in its
second phase, Israel is opposed to discussing an end to the war until Hamas is
defeated and all of its hostages are freed, If it had been passed, the deal
could have seen the release of some Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners
and temporarily paused combat. US officials have pushed for a temporary
cease-fire in the hopes that a stop to the fighting could open the possibility
to a more lasting peace. Officials involved in the talks from Qatar, the US,
and Israel were blindsided and angered by the spy's secret changes.
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. “Hamas was
telling their people, ‘We will have a deal in place tomorrow,’” the first
source said. “All sides were under the assumption the Egyptians provided the
same document” that Israel had signed off on and the other mediators, the US
and Qatar, were aware of, the person said. Instead, the second source said, the
Egyptians sought to blur the lines between the original framework and Hamas’s
response.
