Israel gives Egypt 'last chance' for hostage deal before Rafah attack
Israel-Hamas war
Israel reportedly warned Egypt that this was the"last chance"for a hostage deal with Hamas before it attacked Rafah, Axios reported. On Friday (Apr 27), talks between Israeli officials and the Egyptian delegation to discussIsrael'supcoming offensive in Rafah and efforts to reach a hostage deal with Hamas came to an end.
According to Channel 12 news, Israel said that it would not let Hamas delay the IDF strike on Rafah by dragging the hostage deal negotiation.“This is the last chance before we go into Rafah,”the official said.
How does Egypt fit in the picture?
Egypt and Qatar are prime negotiators aiming to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Egypt is concerned that if Israel finally invades Rafah, a threat it hasrepeatedly made, tens of thousands of Palestinians would enter Egypt, perhaps resulting in a border breach that jeopardises Egyptian security. The southern Gaza city of Rafah is where over one million displaced Palestiniansare reportedto be living after Israel attacked Gaza.
Earlier this week, Gen. Herzi Halevi, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and Ronen Bar, Director of the Shin Bet security agency, visited Cairo. According to media sources, during their visit, Egypt provided new proposals for negotiating a hostage settlement between Israel and Hamas. On Friday, an Egyptian delegation visited Israel to conclude the hostage deal talks.
A senior Israeli official told Hebrew media that negotiations were "very good, focused, held in good spirits, and progressed in all parameters." The official stated that Egyptians understood that time is ofimportancein the Rafah operation and wanted to put pressure on Hamas to reach an agreement for the release of hostages.
“This is part of what the negotiationsare going tofocus on now. The number of days of the ceasefire willbe linkedto the number of hostages who will be released. If Hamas does want a humanitarian deal, Israel will not be the obstacle.”an Israeli official told Axios on Friday.
