Watan-After being attacked by American media and accused of changing the terms of the hostage deal after Israel had agreed to them, attention turned to trying to find information about Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service. CNN accused him of being behind the changes to the terms and the halting of negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
In July 2018, General Intelligence Service chief Major General Abbas Kamel appointed Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek as the official responsible for the Palestinian file in the service, replacing Major General Sameh Nabil.
According to sources, this decision came after Major General Nabil failed to achieve a breakthrough in the Palestinian reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas.
One of Abdel Khalek’s major strengths before being chosen for this mission was his participation in the 2011 deal involving Israeli soldier Shalit, known as the “Wafa al-Ahrar” deal. This deal included the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, the current head of Hamas in Gaza.
اللواء أحمد عبد الخالق المتهم بتبديل بنود صفقة تبادل الأسرى وإفشالها لا يقدح من رأسه، بل ينفذ تعليمات الكذاب #السيسي والنصاب #عباس_كامل. هم من سربوا اسمه وسيضحوا به الآن ارضاء لإسرائيل. لو كان فيه ذرة تعاطف مع #فلسطین لتخلص السيسي منه كما تخلص من كل مخلص في جهاز المخابرات من قبل. pic.twitter.com/IOOnohO7hE
— المجلس الثوري المصري (@ERC_egy) May 22, 2024
Who is Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek?
According to a lengthy tweet by Egyptian dissident Osama Gaweesh on his account on “X” (formerly Twitter), Abdel Khalek’s primary goal was to activate the internal Palestinian reconciliation file between Fatah and Hamas.
On November 16, 2018, he personally participated in a festival organized by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, in the southern Gaza Strip. This was the first time a high-ranking Egyptian official participated in an event organized by Hamas.
Call for Reconciliation
Cameras captured images of Abdel Khalek kissing the hand of a Palestinian martyr’s child. During that visit, he met with several leaders, including Yahya Sinwar and Mahmoud al-Zahar. Upon his return, he immediately called for Fatah and Hamas to reconcile at a conference in Ain Sokhna, Egypt.
According to sources, Abdel Khalek visited Gaza three consecutive times in 2021 amid the events of the “Sword of Jerusalem” battle or the “Dignity Uprising.”
من هو اللواء أحمد عبد الخالق؟
مهم نعرف مين الراجل اللي تقرير سي ان ان اتهمه بأنه وراء تغيير البنود وايقاف المفاوضات بين حماس وإسرائيل
إما إنه بيلعب دور سيء جدا بإشراف المخابرات العامة المصرية
وإما إنه دوره إيجابي للغاية في الملف الفلسطيني للدرجة اللي تدفع إسرائيل وأطراف أخرى… pic.twitter.com/s3ckGGDzp0
— Osama Gaweesh (@osgaweesh) May 22, 2024
Major General Ahmed Abdel Khalek was preparing and arranging for Abbas Kamel’s visit to Gaza. On May 31, 2021, Kamel arrived in the sector, where Abdel Khalek was waiting for him. The visit was considered historic and significant in the context of relations between Egyptian intelligence and Hamas.
He visited Gaza again on August 22, 2022, then traveled to Israel, focusing on calming the situation and discussing prisoner exchanges between the two sides.
Ahmed Abdel Khalek is considered one of the leaders of the shuttle negotiations between Hamas and Israel and one of those directing Egypt’s role in arranging a deal between the occupying state and Hamas.
On April 7, 2024, he received a Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the political bureau and deputy head of the movement. Al-Hayya presented his movement’s position to Ahmed Abdel Khalek in a meeting preceding a round of talks.
Despite the positive testimonials about his management of the Palestinian file, CNN accuses him of being the primary and direct reason for “sabotaging” the Israeli prisoner deal in Gaza.
According to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the deputy head of Egyptian intelligence was accused of secretly changing the terms of the hostage deal after Israel had agreed to it, presenting the revised terms to Hamas without the knowledge of the United States, Qatar, or Israel.
According to CNN on Tuesday night, citing three informed sources, the agreement announced by Hamas on May 6, which it agreed to, is not the same agreement that the Qataris and Americans believed they had submitted to Hamas for final review.