Head of Hamas’ military wing leaves for Cairo to discuss prisoner exchange with Israel
Marwan Issa, the deputy head of Hamas’ military wing, is leaving for Cairo to discuss a possible Egyptian-mediated prisoner exchange deal with Israel, the Qatari newspaper Al-Arabi Al-Jadid reported Wednesday, adding that an Israeli delegation will be in Cairo at the same time.
Mushir al-Masri
Hamas sources told the newspaper that the publication of the audio recording supposedly of one of the Israeli prisoners held by Hamas was in coordination with Egypt, in accordance with an Israeli request, to initiate negotiations on the matter.
The source added that it took a long time to persuade Hamas to release the recording. It should be noted that the credibility of the voice recording attributed to one of the captured Israelis by Hamas is highly questionable.
Hamas has a strong desire to bring about an exchange of prisoners.
Mushir al-Masri, one of Hamas’ spokesmen, said that since the end of Operation Guardian of the Walls last month, Hamas has given priority to the issue of releasing its people, and Issa admitted that “increasing bargaining power” by abducting Israelis had been one of the goals of the recent confrontation with Israel.
TPS learned that Hamas recently tried to promote a deal initiated by Musa Dudin, the prisoner portfolio holder, which offered visual and audio information about the bodies of the IDF soldiers and prisoners held by Hamas in exchange for an early Israeli commitment to release terrorists released in the Shalit deal who were rearrested following their return to terrorism, and who Hamas claims were imprisoned as bargaining cards. This deal was supposed to be discussed in Qatar.
