Israel's cabinet to discuss new outline for prisoner swap deal emerging from Paris talks

CAIRO – 24 February 2024: The Israeli war cabinet is expected to convene in the next few hours to discuss a newly proposed outline for a prisoner swap deal that emerged from talks held in Paris on Friday.

The discussions in Paris involved top officials from Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and Israel, aiming to achieve a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza.

Sources indicate that while progress has been made in the talks, certain crucial details have yet to be agreed upon, such as the number and identities of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the captives, as reported by Israeli media.

It remains unclear how Israel would now respond to Hamas's previous demands, which include increasing humanitarian aid access to Gaza and Israel's withdrawal from the northern part of the region.

The Paris talks included the participation of Abbas Kamel, the Head of Egypt's General Intelligence Service (GIS); Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar's Prime Minister; David Barnea, Israel's Mossad Director; Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet; and William Burns, the CIA chief.

This marks the third meeting among the four parties since late January, as they strive to reach a halt in Israeli attacks, expand aid delivery, and facilitate the exchange of detainees.

Threat of Rafah operation

The talks are taking place while the humanitarian situation in Gaza is collapsing in light of the Israeli strikes, the obstruction of aid delivery efforts, and with almost all health facilities becoming inoperable.

Egypt has leveled up its calls for a cessation of Israeli hostilities especially while Israel has announced plans to launch a military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza, which shares a border with Sinai.

Egypt has expressed concerns that a military operation in Rafah, a city whose population swelled from 200,000 before the war to around 1.5 million Gazans currently, will have catastrophic humanitarian consequences.

Egypt also views this potential offensive part of an “Israeli systematic policy” aimed at pushing the population of the city across the Egyptian border, a matter that Cairo described as a “red line.”

Meanwhile, Cairo has expressed the urgency for the activation of the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, as the only way to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Egypt participated on Wednesday in the advisory hearings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) being held to address the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of Gaza. Egypt has called for an immediate end to the occupation.

Coordination with Hamas

On the other side, Cairo also receives Hamas delegations, led by the movement’s head of political bureau Ismail Haniyeh.

On Friday, Hamas said it concluded a visit to Cairo, where they discussed with Egyptian officials the ways of halting the Israeli aggression in Gaza as well as Israel’s schemes to prevent people in the West Bank from praying in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Ramadan.

Israel is threatening to implement its Rafah offensive by Ramadan, brushing aside global condemnations.

While the United States participate in the ceasefire talks, it blocked an Arab-backed resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza during a vote at the Security Council on Tuesday.

This is the third time for the US to use its veto power at the Security Council to block resolutions aiming for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged strip.

Over 141 days, the Israeli forces have killed 29,606 people and injured almost 70,000 others in Gaza, according to the health ministry in Gaza on Saturday.