An Israeli negotiating team left Cairo and returned to Tel Aviv shortly after arriving on Saturday to continue talks on a hostage exchange deal with Palestinian groups, Anadolu reported.
The delegation, which consisted of the head of the Mossad intelligence agency David Barnea, the head of the Shin Bet security agency Ronen Bar and the government coordinator of operations in the Palestinian territories Ghassan Alian returned to Tel Aviv due to disagreements with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the “Yedioth Ahronoth” newspaper reported.
Netanyahu’s office has yet to comment on the matter.
“The departure of the Israeli delegation to Cairo is the result of strong US pressure on Israel and Egypt in recent days to continue negotiating a hostage deal despite the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh,” Israeli news site Walla reported, citing unnamed sources.
Tensions in the region further escalated after Hamas political chief Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on Wednesday. While Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the killing, Tel Aviv has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
The assassination came a day after Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have increased after the two sides exchanged cross-border attacks.
The escalation comes against the backdrop of deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza that have killed more than 39,500 people since October last year.
