Following a round of heated talks on Friday, there are signs that Hamas may be reconsidering its stance on the Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
The discussions were led on the Egyptian side by intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, who met in Cairo with a delegation of senior Hamas officials. During the meeting, the Hamas representatives announced that they were rejecting the proposal delivered to them the previous day, demanding amendments and guarantees for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
Egyptian warnings
According to two sources familiar with the negotiations, the initial meeting was tense, and Rashad warned - or threatened - that Hamas would be hearing from him again. Subsequent conversations on Saturday and Sunday took an even more threatening tone. Senior Hamas figures, most of whom are based in Doha, received stark warnings from the Egyptians.
Among the threats conveyed was a declaration that if Hamas persists in rejecting the Egyptian mediation offer, the Rafah crossing would be closed. This would effectively block the only exit route for wounded and ill Palestinians from Gaza and would shut down the sole passage for people leaving the Strip.
In the next round of threats, the focus shifted to the released terrorists deported as part of the deal. Several hundred of them, considered among the most dangerous, are currently being housed in hotels in Cairo while awaiting relocation to third countries. That process has stalled due to a lack of willing host nations. Egyptian officials warned that in the first phase, these militants would be imprisoned and shortly thereafter expelled from Egypt altogether.
Another threat involved Egypt withdrawing its sponsorship of Gaza altogether, including pulling back from its reconstruction initiative for the Strip. According to one version of events, the conversation included cursing from the Egyptian side, with one official reportedly saying, "The entire Arab world now has to clean up the destruction you caused."
