Israel told Egypt that Hamas was rearming before strikes on Gaza began

Egyptian mediators had the impression that Israel would resume bombing Gaza after the Israeli negotiators they met this week told them that Hamas was recruiting, rearming and regrouping, sources told The National on Tuesday.

An Israeli team of three negotiators flew home on Monday hours after meeting Egyptian mediators for the second time in as many days to discuss the Gaza ceasefire that had mostly held since January. A Hamas delegation that took part in the negotiations left Egypt on Sunday.

Early on Tuesday, Israel resumed attacks across Gaza, killing more than 400 Palestinians, including women and children. It said the operation was open-ended, shattering the ceasefire and raising fears that Israel-Gaza war would be fully reignited.

The sources described the meetings between Egyptian mediators and the Israeli negotiators as fraught with tension.

The Israelis made it clear that hostilities could resume if Hamas did not agree to US proposals to extend the ceasefire, free up to 11 living hostages and the remains of half of the deceased captives held by Hamas. The US proposals, drafted by White House envoy Steve Witkoff, are supported by Israel.

The Palestinian group rejected the proposals and instead insisted on entering substantive negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire deal, which was meant to lead to a long-term ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the return of all hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and triggered the Gaza war.

The ceasefire was supposed to continue as long as talks over the second phase went on, according to the deal reached after more than a year of negotiations mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

“The Israelis had a threatening tone throughout the meetings and spoke at length about intelligence they had that showed Hamas was rearming, regrouping and energetically recruiting,” said one of the sources.

“They said Hamas's activity was mostly in central and northern Gaza and spoke of Israeli military plans already in place to resume strikes. After listening to them, the Egyptian side was almost certain that Israel will resume strikes,” said the source.

Hamas on Tuesday evening denied Israel's claims. "The occupation’s claims that the resistance had made preparations to attack its troops are baseless and false pretexts to justify its return to the war and escalation of its bloody aggression," the group said in a statement.

Moreover, the sources said, the Israeli negotiators told the Egyptian mediators they would not withdraw from a narrow strip that runs the length of Egypt's border with Gaza on the Palestinian side or have plans to allow humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza in the near future.

After hearing out the Israeli negotiators, said the sources, the Egyptian mediators – senior officials from the country's intelligence agency – said that restarting the war in Gaza was likely to trigger a chain of reactions across the region that would undermine stability.

Israel argues that the border strip - known to Palestinians as the Salah Al Din corridor but to Israelis as the Philadelphi corridor - must remain under its control to deny Hamas the use of underground tunnels to smuggle arms and other hardware. Egypt insists it has destroyed all the tunnels several years ago and that occupying the strip contravenes its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and subsequent accords.

Israel vowed on Tuesday to continue attacking Gaza until all hostages are returned. Hamas told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that deciding to “resume war” after an impasse in truce negotiations could be a “death sentence” for hostages still alive in Gaza.

“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” a statement by Mr Netanyahu's office said. The Israeli Prime Minister has repeatedly said that the Gaza war will not end until Hamas's governance and military capabilities are fully dismantled and the remaining hostages freed.

Of the 250 hostages captured by Hamas and its allies in their deadly October 2023 attack on Israel, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's military response to the Hamas-led attack has killed more than 48,500 Palestinians in Gaza and injured more than twice that number, according to the enclave's health ministry. It has also displaced most of the strip's 2.3 million residents and laid large built-up areas to waste.