Egyptian intelligence secretly changed the terms of the hostage deal and the cease-fire, after Israel had already agreed to it, CNN reported Tuesday night, citing three sources familiar with the matter. According to the sources, the agreement that Hamas announced on May 6 that it agreed to was not the one that the Qataris and the Americans believed they had forwarded to Hamas for final review.
The changes made by Egyptian intelligence led to outrage among officials in Israel, as well as in the United States and Qatar, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse.
“We were all duped,” one of those sources told CNN.
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Hostage families lead an international rally in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv
(Photo: Motti Kimchi)
CIA chief Bill Burns, who led the American mediation efforts to reach a hostage and cease-fire deal, was in the region when it became clear that the Egyptians had changed the terms of the deal. Burns was angry and embarrassed, said the same source - and thought it made him look like he was "out of the loop," or had deliberately not informed Israel of the changes. Burns “almost blew a gasket,” said the source.
According to the sources, the senior Egyptian intelligence officer, Ahmed Abdel Khalek, the senior deputy to the Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, was responsible for the changes in the terms of the deal. One of the sources familiar with the talks said that Abdel Khalek said one thing to Israel, and another to Hamas. Additional demands from Hamas were included in the outline to which Israel agreed to secure Hamas' consent - but the other mediators were not informed of this, nor were the Israelis.
“Hamas was telling their people, ‘We will have a deal in place tomorrow,’” the first source said.
“All sides were under the assumption the Egyptians provided the same document” that Israel had signed off on and the other mediators, the U.S. and Qatar, were aware of, according to the source.
The Egyptian government did not respond to CNN about the serious accusations.
According to the report, the changes were made by the Egyptians about a week after a delegation from Cairo visited Israel, at the end of April, in order to summarize the final details of the agreement, a deal in which Israel agreed to much greater compromises than those it had agreed to in the past: the release of fewer hostages, in exchange for more security prisoners, and also the return of an unlimited number Palestinian refugees to the northern Gaza Strip.
One of the sources said that when the Egyptians returned from Israel and consulted with Hamas it became clear that the terrorist organization still could not accept what Israel had agreed to, and therefore the changes were made in the proposal.
Two of the sources who spoke to CNN said that after learning about these changes, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed al-Thani informed Mossad head Dedi Barnea that Egypt was acting alone. Al-Thani, along with CIA chief Burns, reportedly tried to "save" the deal and balance the offer with elements they knew Israel would demand.
But these efforts actually failed, and even an attempt to continue the contacts with delegations of non-senior ranks in Doha did not result in a breakthrough. "It doesn't make sense," said a senior Biden administration official when asked why Egyptian intelligence tried to push through the changes without consulting the other parties.
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Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani
(Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS)
CNN's report did not specify exactly what changes the Egyptians introduced, but it was emphasized that the main point of contention was the wording of the proposal that dealt with the possibility of ending the war - a demand that Israel firmly refuses, while the proposal to which Hamas agreed spoke of reaching a "sustainable peace" in the second stage. CNN notes that one day before Hamas announced its acceptance of the same proposal, an Egyptian official told the news network that Egypt had received an answer and forwarded it to the Israeli side.
“Several alternatives and scenarios were proposed to overcome the main point of contention related to ending the war,” said the source.
Against the background of the frustration from Egypt, one of the sources said that the expectation is that if the talks are renewed it’s expected that the Qataris would play a bigger role in the next round. However, the report states that the renewal of the negotiations is not expected to be imminent and that in any case, Cairo will continue to be a central part of it due to its proximity to Hamas, as well as due to Israel's preference for Egypt over Qatar, which faces severe criticism in Israel because it supports Hamas.