Former senior Fatah official Sufian Abu Zaida disclosed more information on the unusual message from Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar that he had relayed to Israel three weeks before the October 7 attack in a documentary aired on Al-Ghad on Thursday.
In the interview, Zaida said that for more than a year he served as an intermediary in a secret channel between Israel and Hamas in an effort to advance a prisoner exchange deal.
The channel was opened in March 2022, after senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad approached Zaida and asked for his help in advancing the talks. Zaida contacted a former senior Israeli security official and later met with Israeli officials.
According to Zaida, the contacts progressed to discussions over the names and lists of prisoners, but the sides did not reach an agreement.
As part of the talks, Zaida also met with then-Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Ronen Bar. He said he presented Bar with the conditions Hamas had set for a deal. Among other things, Sinwar demanded the release of all female prisoners, prisoners under the age of 18, prisoners released in the Gilad Schalit deal who had subsequently been rearrested, and veteran prisoners, while giving priority to sick prisoners.
According to Zaida, the Israeli side offered extensive measures benefiting the Gaza Strip in exchange for resolving the prisoner issue, including increasing the number of Gazan workers permitted to enter Israel, rehabilitating the electricity grid and other infrastructure, and advancing reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.
Despite progress in the contacts, the sides did not reach an agreement.
Sinwar warns Israel that Hamas would put ‘cards’ on negotiating table
On September 14, 2023, Zaida met with Sinwar in Gaza. During the meeting, he said Sinwar asked him to relay a message to Israel that before the end of that month, Hamas would place “cards” on the negotiating table that would cause an “earthquake,” and that Israel should prepare for the “emptying of the prisons.”
Zaida said Sinwar dictated the message to him precisely and asked him to deliver it exactly as given.
Zaida transmitted the message to the Israeli side in both Hebrew and Arabic.
According to him, he was contacted less than half an hour later to verify that Sinwar had indeed intended to convey those words, and he was summoned to an urgent meeting the following morning.
At the meeting in Ashkelon, Zaida was asked what Sinwar meant by an “earthquake” and what the “cards” were.
Sinwar’s message keeps security officials awake
According to Zaida, the officials he met told him that no one in the security establishment had slept that night because of the message.
Zaida replied that Sinwar had been calm when he conveyed it to him.
That was, he said, the final meeting held through the contact channel. Zaida returned to the Gaza Strip on October 5 and was scheduled to meet Sinwar again on October 8.
The meeting never took place. Twenty-two days after Zaida relayed the message, the October 7 attack occurred.
