Egyptian intelligence quietly altered the terms of a ceasefire proposal that Israel had already signed earlier this month, which could have potentially released Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and set a pathway to temporarily end the fighting in Gaza, CNN reported citing three people familiar with the discussions. The ceasefire agreement that Hamas ended up announcing on May 6 was not what the Qataris or the Americans believed had been submitted to Hamas for a potential final review, sources said.

The changes made by Egyptian intelligence, the details of which have not been previously reported, led to a wave of anger and recrimination among officials from the US, Qatar and Israel, and left ceasefire talks at an impasse, CNN reported. "We were all duped," one of those sources told CNN. US's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Bill Burns, who has spearheaded the American efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement, was in the region when word reached him that the Egyptians had changed the terms of the deal. Burns was angry and embarrassed, the same person said, believing it made him look like he wasn't in the loop or hadn't informed the Israelis of the changes.