AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): With the arrival of the cold season, the sluggishness of reconstruction of Gaza massive damages caused by the 11-day Israeli war on the besieged Palestinian enclave is turning to be the most important concern of Hamas leaders. Earlier this week, in protest to the Israeli decline to implement ceasefire commitments and show seriousness, Hamas issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Tel Aviv to realize its commitments in full. The ultimatum once again highlighted the Egyptian role in Gaza developments since on the one hand the Israelis, fearing a new war, stepped their diplomatic moves and resorted to Cairo for mediation and on the other hand Hamas leaders accused Egypt of siding with the Israeli regime in pressures on Gaza.
Last week, a senior Hamas official told Aljazeera news network that he was deeply dissatisfied with Egypt's behavior and delay in fulfilling its promises to Gaza, adding that to the moment Cairo has not committed to the promises it made about Gaza reconstruction. It continues its crackdowns on the Palestinian travelers and disallows thousands of them from entering its territories through Rafah border crossing, the only Egyptian gate for the Palestinian enclave that has been under Israeli siege since 2007.
Israeli obstruction of Gaza reconstruction
After the end of the 11-day war on 31 May, Hamas, referring to the imposition of its demands on the Israeli regime, announced victory in the war. Osama Hamdan, one of its leaders, in an interview with the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news network, mentioned the details of the agreement and stated that Hamas took guarantees from Tel Aviv about retreat from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and Al-Aqsa Mosque issues. The Israelis also pledged to stop attacking residents of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque pilgrims, end the siege of Gaza, and cooperate in the prisoner swap case.
But from the very beginning, some observers of the Palestinian issue emphasized that the ceasefire will not last long due to a lack of attention to resolving the main problems of the two sides, and that Israel has been forced to accept the plan under internal and international pressure and so the issue has many opponents within the regime.
Actually, despite Hamas's acceptance of the ceasefire offer, the Israeli regime did not change its behavior and continued to move settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque area, demolishing houses and expelling Palestinians in occupied Al-Quds. Under the new Israeli government led by Prime Minister Neftali Bennet, Gaza blockade went more intensified as food, medicine, and electricity supplies were squeezed.
Meanwhile, the US and Israeli governments suggested that Hamas, instead of receiving the $130 million a month that Qatar pays monthly in cash to improve Gaza's economy and the living conditions of the Palestinians living there, accept coupons for the same amount. Hamas opposed the idea.
These measures are taken to make Hamas go through the mill and thus face public backlash and pressures.
Egypt and prisoner swap challenge
The issue of Hamas captives has been a point of criticism and protest by Hamas leaders in the past few months.
After the ceasefire agreement of May, Egypt once again tried to mediate between Hamas and Tel Aviv on the captives case.
Seeing the Gaza-Tel Aviv dispute mediation a chance to upgrade his political role and prestige in the regional issues and prove his power of influencing to the US, President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi is certain that without settling the case of the prisoners and the missing, the ceasefire would move on a more shaky foundation.
However, the Israeli obstructionist approach has made it difficult to maintain the existing ceasefire under the Cairo agreement. In an interview with the Palestinian daily Al-Youm, Soheil al-Hindi, a member of Hamas's political bureau, said: "The movement and the resistance groups in the Gaza Strip have so far seen no seriousness from the Zionist regime in fulfilling its obligations. It has not adhered to the terms of the ceasefire, including the lifting of the siege of the Gaza Strip, the cessation of attacks on Al-Quds residents, the attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the progress in the prisoner exchange case. The resistance is running out of patience with the Israeli measures. The Zionist regime is not serious about prisoner deal."
Meanwhile, Egyptian sources have recently pointed out that the Egyptian mediators have not been able to obtain the Israeli red light about Hamas's proposal on the first phase of the prisoner exchange agreement, because the Israeli side once again tied Gaza reconstruction deal to release of its prisoners.
"Hamas had provided a framework for the exchange of prisoners with the mediators, but a positive response to the offer has not been given by the Israeli leaders," Zaher Jabarin, a member of Hamas political bureau and in charge of prisoner swap case told Arab 48 news website. Without elaborating on the case of the prisoners, Jabarin held that the "mediators are aware of the conditions. The Palestinian resistance managed to separate the prisoner deal from reconstruction and blockade lifting cases. This came after an Israeli effort to tie Gaza living conditions improvement to the prisoner case."
Meanwhile, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Saturday, referring to Cairo's weakness in pursuing this issue, wrote that the Egyptian intelligence agency is angry with the Israeli procrastination about the prisoner exchange and ceasefire and emphasizes doing the deal quickly, because this serves the Israeli interests in relation to Egypt and the Persian Gulf Arab states. An Egyptian intelligence delegation is set to visit Tel Aviv and Gaza to discuss expediting the swap process.
As a conclusion, despite Cairo's effort to portrait a positive and viable role in the prisoner case, Tel Aviv has so far declined to give a clear response to the Egyptian side. This uncertainty on the one hand has infuriated Hamas and on the other hand would cast ambiguity on the Egyptian ability to take the role if Cairo is unable to manage the case and deal is left inconclusive. The broader outcome is undermining of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, and even worse its collapse.
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