The Egyptians are increasingly concerned about a possible Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and are making a last minute push for a hostage deal that would lead to a ceasefire in Gaza and stop an invasion of Rafah.
Egyptian officials have raised concerns that an Israeli operation in the city would lead to tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs entering their territory, potentially involving a breach of the border that would endanger Egypt's security.
IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Herzi Halevi and the director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) Ronen Bar visited Cairo earlier this week for talks on the Rafah operation and the hostage deal.
During the talks in Cairo, the Egyptians presented new ideas for how to reach a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, according to Israeli officials and Egyptian press reports.
A delegation of Egyptian intelligence officials visited Israel on Friday and conducted talks with representatives of the Shin Bet, IDF and Mossad about the hostage deal and the Rafah operation, Israeli officials said.
The Israeli officials said the talks with the Egyptians on Friday were constructive and that the Egyptians made it clear they intend to put pressure on Hamas to secure a deal for the release of hostages.
The Egyptians also expressed that they understand the sense of urgency regarding the Rafah operation, the two Israeli officials said.
"Israel told Egypt that it is serious about preparations for the operation in Rafah and that it will not let Hamas drag its feet," one Israeli official said.
The Israeli message was that there is a clear deadline for invading Rafah and Israel will not agree to "another round of pointless talks for the purpose of fraud," the Israeli official said.
On Thursday, an Israeli official said that the latest Israeli offer to Hamas is for the release of 33 hostages.
"As far as Israel is concerned, this is about 33 hostages from the categories of women, soldiers, adults, the sick, including mentally disabled, and wounded," the source said.
According to the outline published on Thursday evening, Israel will not declare the end of the war. Channel 12 News reported that the price for the deal that Israel will pay will be very heavy, but the military censor is not permitting further details to be published at this time.
Hamas rejected the most recent proposal for a hostage release deal. A senior Israeli official later said that Hamas' response to the mediators' latest proposal for a deal included agreeing to release only 20 of the 133 hostages it is holding, in exchange for a six-week ceasefire.
