Egypt intends to renew efforts to reach prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas

The Egyptian mediators between Hamas and Israel renewed their willingness to continue the past effort to reach a prisoner exchange deal.

According to the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, Hamas recently confirmed, during contact with the Egyptians, its willingness to resume the exchange negotiations at where they ended. This would allow the implementation of the first phase of the deal, represented in the release of the two soldiers, Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, in addition to information about the other two soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul. This is in exchange for the release of the prisoners who had been released as part of the Wafaa Al-Ahrar deal who were re-arrested, as well as women, children, ill, martyrs and long-serving prisoners.

The Egyptians informed Hamas that they were in the process of resuming contact with the new Israeli government about the prisoners’ file, and that they were waiting for the appointment of a new official in charge of this file, to succeed Yaron Blum. Blum, the Coordinator of Prisoners and Missing Persons Affairs, submitted his resignation from his position on 31 October, 2022 on grounds of failing to return the Israeli soldiers held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip

The Occupation authorities justify their reluctance to implement the exchange deal by saying that they do not want to release dangerous Palestinian prisoners whose “hands are stained with blood” said sources, adding that “the new Israeli government is facing a test on its true intentions in this file, as implementing the deal in its two stages would address its concerns, by the first phase only releasing the ‘least dangerous’ prisoners in exchange for the release of Mengistu and Al-Sayed, and the disclosure of information about Goldin and Shaul.”

READ: Hamas will not release Israel captives without ‘honourable swap’

The sources pointed out that “so far, the Occupation government is still hindering every attempt to reach an exchange deal, as it always withdraws from and stops negotiations with the Egyptians after any progress is made. It is dreaming that this matter will end without paying the appropriate price that satisfies the Palestinian people and the prisoners.” They noted that “all of the Israeli allegations regarding the captured soldiers have been refuted, including those related to Mengistu, and claims that he is mentally ill, as the video published by Al-Qassam revealed that this is not true.”

They describe the responses of the Occupation authorities to the latest tape as being “in the context of avoiding what is required of them, and their moral duty towards the families of the captured soldiers and army soldiers who are now afraid of a similar fate and the government’s abandonment of them in the future.”

Israeli security sources confirmed that the video of Mengistu is actually him, while the captive’s family concluded that it is, indeed, their son in the video, although he looks different.