Mysterious flight of an Israeli official by private jet to the Egyptian capital

An official Israeli state television channel reported the “mysterious flight” of an Israeli official by private jet from Tel Aviv to Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

According to Sputnik, quoting Fars, the Lebanese “Al-Nashra” news site wrote in this regard: Broadcast in Arabic, they unveiled the trip and announced that a strange flight had taken place this morning (Tuesday, September 22nd) from Bangorion Airport in Tel Aviv to Cairo. “Today is one of the Jewish Eid al-Adha days, when it is forbidden for official politicians to work.”

“No one knows which Israeli official flew to Egypt on this private jet,” Aran said, referring to the presence of an Israeli official on the flight.

He added: “This trip is exceptional because it took place during the Eid atmosphere, while usually air travel does not take place on this day.”

Blumenthal also said it had seen an image of a report on the Flightradar24 website that monitors air traffic confirming the flight, but gave no explanation.

Political observers link the trip to reports in the Hebrew and Arab media about Hamas offering a roadmap for the exchange of prisoners mediated by Egypt.

Several high-ranking Egyptian delegations have recently traveled to Tel Aviv and Gaza to discuss the case, while Israel has so far formally denied any progress in the prisoner exchange case.

Senior Egyptian sources revealed yesterday that Cairo had received “sudden and unprecedented” messages from Israel regarding the launch and activation of a prisoner exchange case with Hamas. Over the past few months, however, the case has seen a stalemate over the key points of the final agreement.

In an interview with Rai Al-Youm, the sources stated that Israeli officials had called the Egyptian mediator a few days ago to announce that special meetings could be held to discuss the prisoner exchange case and the final conditions of the Palestinian resistance, led by Hamas. There is a general form to complete this case as soon as possible.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners of War and Freedoms Authority, 4,850 Palestinians, including 225 children and 41 women, are being held captive in Israel, 540 of whom are in administrative detention. Hamas, on the other hand, has captured four Israelis since the summer of 2014, two of whom are militants who took part in the war and two others who entered Gaza illegally.

After the recent war against the Gaza Strip, known as the Battle of Saif al-Quds (Sword of Jerusalem) and the 12-Day War, Israel was forced to halt its attacks on the Gaza Strip in the face of resistance and attacks, and then mediated Egyptian, talks between the two sides began. During the talks, Tel Aviv sought to link the issue of prisoner exchanges with the Gaza reconstruction process, which was not supported by the resistance, and stressed that the prisoner exchange process was an independent process and that the demands of the Gaza resistance groups should be met.