An Israeli delegation, including Mossad Chief David Barnea and Ronan Bar, the head of Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet, arrived in Cairo on Saturday, three days after the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran. The delegation was scheduled to stay for two days but left just hours after they arrived.

Haniyeh’s assassination, and the assassination of Hizbullah commander Fouad Shukr in Beirut a day earlier, have left the region holding as Iran vowed to avenge the deaths.

The Israeli delegation had arrived in Cairo not to discuss the hostages-ceasefire deal but for consultations over the latest developments, said Mohamed Hegazi, a former deputy to Egypt’s foreign minister.

“It is not possible to talk about a deal when Israel raised tension to such an unprecedented level with its latest actions,” he told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Egyptian sources said the delegation had discussed the situation on the Egyptian border with Gaza as well as scenarios for operating the Rafah crossing with Egyptian officials. They added that during the talks Egypt underlined its rejection to the presence of Israeli forces in the Philadelphi Corridor along the border with Egypt or opening the crossing while Rafah remains under Israeli control.

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, started a few weeks after the eruption of the war in October. The talks aim to reach a deal to release hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza and to establish a ceasefire.

Qatari officials were not present at this week’s talks due to political sensitivities around the assassination of Haniyeh.

Cairo, said Hegazi, will have informed the Israeli delegation of the dangers of the latest Israeli escalation.

“Any hostage-ceasefire deal will remain suspended until the picture is clearer, and the situation calm enough to allow for the resumption of talks,” he said.

The failure of the talks was blamed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demands. Many Israelis feel he is deliberately obstructing a deal.

Families of the hostages have accused Netanyahu of sending the delegation to create the impression of negotiations continuing and to ease some of the pressure he is facing from the US. Netanyahu recently toughened his demands and presented new conditions for a deal, including forming an international mechanism to prevent weapons transfers from southern Gaza to the north.

While Israeli media quoted officials as saying that the new demands have made a deal impossible, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying allegations were being circulated by unknown parties and claiming that it is Hamas that is trying to change the deal.

“The prime minister is willing to go a long, long way to release our hostages who are dear to him, while maintaining Israel’s security and preventing conditions that would allow Hamas to regain control of the Strip, threaten Israel, and return to commit the atrocities of 7 October,” read the statement.

This week’s talks were held amid hopes of a breakthrough after US President Joe Biden told Netanyahu before the talks that he must stop escalating tensions in the region and move immediately towards a deal.

“All parties must stop taking escalatory actions and find reasons to come to an agreement, not to look for reasons to delay or say no to the agreement,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press conference in Mongolia last week.

Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk, who visited Cairo last week and met head of Egyptian General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel, pressed both the Egyptians and the Israelis to continue negotiations despite the assassinations.

The death toll in Gaza is nearing 40,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Most of Gaza’s population of about 2.3 million has been displaced, many people multiple times, as the Israeli military returns to areas where it says Hamas militants have regrouped. Health services and sanitation have collapsed across the territory as hunger and the risk of famine grow.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 August, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly