Egyptian media: Mediators are seeking to resolve the issue of Hamas members in Rafah, while Israel remains obstinate.

An Egyptian media outlet reported on Friday that mediators are making significant efforts to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and to resolve the issue of Hamas members detained within what is known as the 'yellow line' in areas controlled by the Israeli army in Rafah.

This was according to a report published by the 'Cairo News' channel, which indicated that Israel is trying to exploit this crisis to undermine the agreement.

The channel stated that amidst the mediators' efforts between Hamas and Israel to maintain the ceasefire agreement, 'Egypt is seeking to resolve the issue of Hamas members detained inside the yellow line in the Palestinian Rafah area, whom the occupying government is trying to exploit to sabotage the agreement.'

The channel described this crisis as 'the latest, which could threaten the failure of the agreement and a return to square one.'

It is estimated that there are 200 Hamas members in Rafah, which falls within areas controlled by the Israeli army under the agreement, according to the channel, which noted that the movement requested 'a safe passage for them.'

It added: 'This request was met with provocative responses from Netanyahu's extremist ministers.'

On Monday, the Hebrew newspaper 'Haaretz' quoted an unnamed Israeli political source as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'will not allow a safe passage for 200 Hamas members' located in areas controlled by the army to territories under Palestinian control.

It noted that Netanyahu's decision came after pressure from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The channel confirmed that the political leadership in Egypt 'continues to exert efforts to keep the agreement in effect, to reach the remaining stages that ultimately lead to the reconstruction of the sector.'

The channel mentioned that Egyptian mediators 'proposed a plan allowing the remaining Hamas members in the yellow line to move to other areas of the sector, in exchange for handing over their weapons to Egypt to resolve the issue seen as a threat to the ongoing truce for a month.'

It pointed out that both the Palestinian and Israeli sides have made 'significant progress in the first phase of the plan,' despite Israeli violations of the agreement.

Regarding what the two sides achieved in the first phase, the Egyptian channel stated that this included 'the exchange of prisoners and detainees, and Hamas working diligently to recover the bodies of the remaining Israelis, and the entry of tons of aid daily.'

Hamas is facing a crisis in retrieving the bodies of Israeli prisoners from various areas of the sector due to a lack of equipment and heavy machinery and not always being allowed to search in areas under its control according to the agreement alongside teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Despite this, the movement has handed over the twenty living Israeli prisoners and the bodies of 23 prisoners out of 28 since the ceasefire agreement came into effect on October 10, while Tel Aviv previously claimed that one of the received bodies does not match any of its prisoners.

Hamas and the government media office in Gaza have repeatedly confirmed that Israel has committed violations regarding the humanitarian protocol of the agreement, as 'the average number of aid trucks entering daily does not exceed 24 percent, with 145 trucks, out of the number of trucks stipulated in the agreement to enter daily, which is 600 trucks.'

In contrast, the Egyptian channel described the Israeli position as 'stubborn,' and noted that 'Defense Minister (Yoav Gallant) ruled out the idea of removing them from the sector due to accusations against the movement of violating the truce.'

The Egyptian channel confirmed that the Israeli accusations against Hamas of violating the truce 'are baseless.'

Two weeks ago, Israel accused the movement of violating the ceasefire agreement, claiming that its detained members in Rafah fired at an army unit, which Israel took as a pretext to launch an attack on the sector that resulted in the death of 100 Palestinians at the time.

The agreement ended a genocide committed by Israel on October 8, 2023, for two years with American support, resulting in over 68,000 deaths and more than 170,000 injuries, while Israel violated it dozens of times, leading to hundreds of deaths and injuries.