The issue of the Israeli prisoners and a potential prisoner exchange was not part of the Egypt-brokered talks held between Israel and Hamas, an Egyptian diplomatic source told i24NEWS on Sunday.
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According to the diplomat, all talks recently were focused on the security situation and financial aid to the Palestinian territory.
The official said that Hamas representatives were "upset" with the US and Egyptian efforts to insert the Palestinian Authority as an actor in the Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave ruled by the Hamas terrorist group since it drove out rival Fatah in a bloody coup in 2007.
Hamas is therefore refusing to discuss a prisoner exchange to send the message to Israel that the group is the sole sovereign in the Gaza Strip whereas the PA has no authority in the enclave.
The terrorist group is holding the remains of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, both killed in the 2014 conflict, as well as Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, two Israeli civilians, both suffering from mental issues, who crossed the border into the Palestinian territory of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
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Contacted by i24NEWS, Goldin's mother, Leah, said, "I expect Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to wave off this report. This is very worrying news. Ahead of his meeting with [US President Joe] Biden later this week, it's an opportunity for Bennett to make it clear to Biden, whose government is working to reconstruct Gaza, that Israel won't allow any reconstruction project without a return of its soldiers and civilians."
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
