Egypt brokers Israel-Hamas agreement for Gaza, reports Arab media

According to the Al-Hayat daily, the Egyptians secured an agreement whereby Hamas will halt violence in the Gaza Strip in exchange for relief from sanctions.

By World Israel News Staff

Sources claiming to possess information from the Egyptian intelligence service sold London’s Al-Hayat newspaper that an understanding has been reached to bring an end to months of Hamas-orchestrated rioting, rocket strikes, and arson terror emanating from the Gaza Strip.

According to the sources, Egypt instructed the Hamas terror group and the Palestinian Authority to refrain from further escalations in light of the terms that had been established, reported Israel’s Channel 10 news.

The sources also stated that the agreement is not a ceasefire and that the Palestinian rioters will not be prohibited from “demonstrations on the fence.”

This feature is problematic for Israel because these demonstrations, which have been portrayed as “popular protests,” are in reality violent riots organized by Hamas, which uses them as cover for nefarious activities, including ambushes on IDF soldiers, attempts to infiltrate Israel, Molotov cocktail throwing, and airborne incendiary arson attacks using kites and balloons.

The Egyptian intelligence delegation has shuttled between Gaza, Tel Aviv and Ramallah to try to reach an understanding, an effort that has been hampered by bitter feuding between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, which mounted a bloody coup in 2007 to oust Abbas’ Fatah party from the coastal enclave.

Under the deal, Israel will reportedly permit the expansion for Gaza of maritime rights, fuel supplies, and United Nations assistance.

According to the Channel 10 report, Hamas and Islamic Jihad accepted the Egyptian deal, with Egypt also pledging to the Palestinian Authority that it will work to return the PA to power in Gaza.

In the past, Abbas has expressed strong opposition to any agreement between Israel and Hamas, the latter of which he does not view as a sanctioned party in terms of negotiating agreements with Israel.

On the Israeli side, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman conveyed earlier in the week a complete lack of faith in any potential agreement with Hamas, commenting, “I do not believe in any arrangement with Hamas. It does not work, it has not worked in the past, it will not work in the future.”

Liberman maintains that Israel has “reached a situation of no choice. Anything other than dealing the most severe blow – the heaviest we can – on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, will not help. We are truly in a situation of no choice.”