After an Israeli delegation touched down in Egypt’s capital on Wednesday, ostensibly for a fresh round of negotiations on a potential prisoner swap, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Cairo.
Israel and Hamas have been mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt. Following a week-long ceasefire in November that saw the release of over half of the prisoners detained in Gaza, peace negotiators have attempted to come to an agreement on another round of exchanges that would coincide with an end to hostilities.
Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas, asserted this week that “unless all our prisoners in the occupation prisons are released, they will never recover their hostages.”
The death of a senior Hamas official in Beirut last week hampered efforts to broker another trade.
