Egypt has not yet despaired of reaching a comprehensive arrangement between Israel and Hamas in order to prevent a large-scale armed conflict between the two sides. In the past two weeks, representatives of the Egyptian intelligence came to the Gaza Strip four times and met Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and head of Hamas in Gaza Yahya Sinwar. The most comprehensive meeting took place Oct. 16, when a large Egyptian delegation of at least 20 senior officials and diplomats came to Gaza, headed by Deputy Chief of the Egyptian General Intelligence Ayman Badia.
Following these meetings, Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Abbas Kamel was supposed to visit Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority (PA), but he canceled his visit following the rocket fire that hit a home in Beersheba Oct. 17 and concern that a military conflagration between the sides would follow. His deputy, Badia, found himself investing much effort to prevent a war instead of advancing talks toward an arrangement, and his efforts have indeed born fruit — Israel’s response was relatively restrained after he and his aides delivered calming messages from side to side.