CIA Director William Burns reviewed a Gaza ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas earlier this month before it was submitted to Israeli officials, two current and one former Egyptian intelligence officials told Middle East Eye.
Last week, CNN reported that an Egyptian intelligence official had “quietly changed” the terms of the proposal, surprising negotiators and leading to Israel rejecting the deal.
However, the three Egyptian intelligence sources told MEE that Burns was among several mediators who reviewed the draft before it was sent to Israel.
A source close to Hamas, familiar with the ceasefire talks, told MEE earlier this week that the information relayed by the sources to CNN was “nonsensical”.
The source said that Egypt was scapegoated for a breakdown of talks even though the Americans had “agreed to the two amendments by Hamas, and then because they were unable to oblige Netanyahu, they accused Egypt”.
With Hamas asking for guarantees that Israel withdraws from Gaza and hands back control to them, and Israel never going to accept that, the explanation given o CNN seems like the logical explanation.
MEE reporting “hey we found some Egyptians that told us Egypt would never dare do that” doesn’t really add anything
So they could be lying, but MEE is saying their sources are Egyptian intelligence familiar with the negotiation. I don’t think your characterization of the article is correct.
We found the Egyptian government saying this and multiple other sources and Burns did go there.
It is unlikely the Egyptian government would suddenly go rogue and change the agreement by themselves. The explanation in the article makes far more sense.
And the most telling is that Hamas did claim in Gaza there would be a ceasefire and the Palestinians in Gaza cheered about it.
Of course MEE does not have the amazing reputation of credible western outlets such as New York Times. So whatever they say can’t be right