Did the latest round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad delay indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas involving the release of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin?
A senior Egyptian defense official with ties to the country's intelligence officers mediating between Israel and Hamas told Israel Hayom that "had the recent escalation [with PIJ] in Gaza not erupted," the sides could have been "on the verge of breakthrough" over a broader deal to stabilize the ceasefire in return for a framework plan of understandings pertaining to Gaza.
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The senior Egyptian official said the United Nations also applied pressure to promote understandings and agreements between Israel and Hamas, and that the UN viewed the move as a practical way to significantly improve the dire humanitarian situation in the coastal enclave.
"This is also why the UN's Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, rushed to Cairo mere hours after the assignation of [PIJ leader Bahaa] Abu al-Atta and play a central role in the efforts to broker a ceasefire," the Egyptian official added.
The official also noted Hamas' atypical decision to order its military wing not to join PIJ in firing rockets at Israel, even though its leaders were aware of the harsh criticism such a step would incur from the other armed groups and Palestinian public in Gaza.
A senior Palestinian source in Gaza confirmed the Egyptian official's account to Israel Hayom. A senior Hamas official even told Israel Hayom that the messages transmitted by the Egyptian mediators from Israel to the Hamas leadership shortly after al-Atta's assassination and during the ensuing escalation was "don't intervene in the fighting and you won't be harmed."
According to the senior Palestinian official, Hamas decision-makers preferred not to jeopardize the understandings that had been reached with Israel indirectly via the Egyptians: "Al-Atta's assassination and the escalation in the Strip certainly caused a significant setback to the talks and the possibility of a breakthrough. However, had Hamas joined the fighting it would have ended the resolution efforts in Gaza."
The Palestinian official added that Hamas viewed al-Atta's "military" activities in northern Gaza unfavorably and that even al-Atta's own superiors in PIJ struggled to keep him in line.
