Lazar Berman is the diplomatic reporter for The Times of Israel
Israel has not agreed to release Khalil al-Awawda, a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad who is on hunger strike to protest his detention in Israel without charge, or the leader of the West Bank terror organization Bassam al-Saadi, who arrested last week in a move that would have sparked the wave of violence in Gaza.
Israel has no plans for prisoners faster than Islamic Jihad demands after the ceasefire in Gaza last night, The Times of Israel has learned.
Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials point to the ongoing extensive and, in their view, fruitful contacts with Egypt, Qatar, the United States and other countries fighting in Gaza.
“They knew in advance all the elements of our decision-making and also our efforts to avoid acting and make sure that [the conflict] is as limited as possible,” one of the officials said.
“Qataris have a role here as an actor that creates economic stability,” the official said.
These efforts have contributed to the ceasefire process, which began on Saturday.
According to officials, the fact that Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ziad Nakhaleh traveled to Tehran to meet with the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps made it more difficult for him to agree to a ceasefire.
Officials were satisfied with Egypt’s role. ” Egyptian mediation is very intense. Our relationship with them is incredibly close.
Israeli political leaders first sought to have the ceasefire take effect in the afternoon, but had to give a few more hours to allow the IDF to complete its operations, the officials said.
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