Egypt resumes effort to achieve prisoner exchange agreement
The delegation left the Gaza Strip on Friday after holding talks with several Hamas officials.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHPalestinian Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City February 28, 2019(photo credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)Egypt has resumed its mediation efforts to reach a new prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel.An Egyptian intelligence delegation that visited the Gaza Strip last week discussed the possibility of reaching a prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told reporters in Beirut on Friday.The delegation left the Gaza Strip on Friday after holding talks with several Hamas officials.Haniyeh, who is currently visiting Lebanon, said the Egyptians are trying to achieve a new prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel.He expressed hope that the Egyptian media efforts would achieve something on this issue, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu.“The brothers in Egypt are following up on a number of issues, including reconciliation [between Hamas and Fatah], the siege [of the Gaza Strip], the Rafah border crossing and the prisoner exchange,” Haniyeh said. “Hamas’s relationship with Egypt is strong and stable.”Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of two IDF soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed during the 2014 Operation Protective Shield in the Gaza Strip. In addition, Hamas is said to be holding two Israeli citizens, Avera Avraham Mengistu, who is of Ethiopian descent, and Bedouin Arab citizen Hisham al-Sayed. The two entered the Gaza Strip on their own accord in 2014 and 2015.An Egyptian intelligence delegation that visited the Gaza Strip last month as part of an effort to secure a new ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel left without being able to reach a deal.The Egyptians arrived in the Gaza Strip to prevent an all-out military confrontation between Israel and Hamas after the launching of hundreds of explosive laden and arson balloons towards southern Israel. In the end, Qatar managed to broker an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian factions in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.Relations between Egypt and Qatar have been strained since the Egyptian military ousted Qatari-backed President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. Four years later, Egypt – along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates – cut their diplomatic relations with Qatar for its alleged support for “terrorism,” including the Muslim Brotherhood.
