Palestinians woke on Feb. 18 to an unusual news report posted on an Israeli website, alleging that Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of Hamas’ Gaza government, had secretly sent a message to his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, about ending the military escalation following Israel’s recent bombardment of a number of targets in Gaza.
It was further alleged that the message was passed in a phone conversation between Ghazi Hamad, undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Gaza, and an Israeli mediator, Gershon Baskin. The conversation was said to have included a request to wind down Israeli military operations and supposedly took place in Haniyeh’s presence, in his office, with the message subsequently being relayed to Gil Sheffer, Netanyahu’s bureau chief.
