An Israeli official told CNN on Sunday that Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo for talks on a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages from Gaza.
The official said that the reason is that Hamas did not respond to two Israeli demands: a list of hostages specifying who is alive and who is dead; Verifying the percentage of Palestinian prisoners who will be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of hostages.
The official requested that his name not be revealed while discussing the closed-door diplomatic maneuvers.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday for talks that will hopefully lead to an end to the fighting.
The Israeli official said the decision not to send an Israeli delegation was made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in coordination with Mossad Director David Barnea — who was a key Israeli negotiator — after Barnia received a message that Hamas had not met the conditions.
A senior Hamas official did not immediately respond to a CNN question about whether the armed group had complied with the Israeli conditions.
More background: Netanyahu set the conditions in a speech on Thursday, saying: “I demand to know in advance the names of all hostages who will be included in the scheme. I have not yet received an answer to both questions, and it is too early to say, although we are prepared, whether we will come up with an outline for an additional release in the coming days.
The Israeli decision not to have any delegation go to Cairo comes a day after a senior Biden administration official told reporters that Israel had “basically accepted” a six-week ceasefire proposal.
