Talks stall on exchange of Palestinian and Israeli prisoners

Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel on an exchange of prisoners have been suspended, Egyptian security officials said on Thursday.

A day earlier, mediators said the two sides were nearing a deal.

But they became deadlocked over issues including the number of Palestinians that Israel should release.

Officials said talks were expected to resume soon.

Hamas leaders have been indirectly negotiating the deal with Israel in Cairo this week. Officials from Egypt’s General Directorate of Intelligence, the country’s top spy agency, are acting as middlemen.

Israel does not negotiate directly with Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group. Egyptian intelligence officials have traditionally taken the lead in talks between Palestinians and Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government wants a prisoner exchange deal to be reached and implemented before it allows reconstruction to go ahead in Gaza, officials say.

They said Israel viewed the 1,111 Palestinians Hamas wants to be released as too many and objected to the release of up to 12 prisoners it believes are members of militant groups.

According to Israeli media reports, Hamas is believed to hold two Israeli civilians, Avner Mengistou and Hisham Al Sayed, and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in the 2014 war between the two sides.

Late on Wednesday, Israel agreed to maintain a truce which was mediated by the Egyptians to end the 11-day conflict with Hamas in May.

But they have yet to decide on the duration of the truce and the mechanisms needed to maintain it, according to the Egyptian officials. Hamas wants it to last for up to three years.

However, the Palestinians rejected last-minute Israeli demands that Hamas and other Gaza-based militant groups stop upgrading their military capabilities, especially their arsenal of rockets, and the construction of tunnels.

At least 260 Palestinians were killed in hundreds of Israeli air strikes on Gaza during the conflict. Rockets fired by Gaza militants killed 13 in Israel.

Egypt is attempting to pave the way for a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, which collapsed seven years ago.

Officials are seeking to reconcile Palestinian factions as a prelude to Palestinian elections and, finally, a resumption of PalestinianIsraeli negotiations.

The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank has been at odds with Hamas since it seized Gaza in 2017.