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.

  • @MeanEYE
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    -67 months ago

    Indeed there are a lot of vocal people here who weren’t keen o Israel to begin with. But that shouldn’t justify calling deaths of civilians on either side.

    aiming to produce a situation not only more-favorable to Hamas than the pre-war situation, but one so much more favorable that it’s worth the costs of the war for Gaza

    I think this is mostly due to Israel’s insistence that Hamas must perish. Which is why I guess every ceasefire talks are falling through constantly. There’s no future in which Hamas exists that Israel is willing to accept. Sadly a lot of innocent will pay the cost. So whatever happens Israel will double-down on eradicating Hamas while trying to minimize civilian casualties and Hamas will try to survive by doing the opposite.