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.

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    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.