The terrorists also feel free to murder hostages, said Israel’s chief negotiator for hostages and missing persons.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Hamas feels free to just pretend to negotiate a hostages-for-ceasefire deal because the world focuses on Israeli concessions instead of pressuring the terrorist organization, Israel’s chief negotiator for hostages and missing persons said Sunday.
Speaking at the Middle East – America Dialogue Summit (MEAD), Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch said, “There is a direct correlation between the international pressure on Israel and Hamas’ desire to negotiate. When Israel is under pressure from its allies and other nations, Hamas feels it has achieved much without negotiating.”
“There is a facade of negotiations” since December, Hirsch claimed, with a few days of “real talks” taking place in March, but that was all. “We thought there was progress but unfortunately now there isn’t.”
At the same time, “While our negotiating team is in Doha, Hamas continues to kill hostages in Gaza,” he pointed out.
The terrorists shot six hostages to death last week in a Rafah tunnel after IDF forces appeared nearby, preferring to kill their captives rather than risk them being rescued.
The general said that Hamas had successfully pushed the narrative that Jerusalem was to blame for the stalled talks, but “This is false. We have never canceled any deal that was on the table. It simply hasn’t happened.”
Hamas is also trying to increase the internal pressure on the government to concede by using the hostages, recognizing them as “its most valuable asset right now,” Hirsch noted.
“They want very much to divide and turn off Israeli society by using the hostage issue and they see what is happening,” he said, referring to the mass demonstrations in favor of capitulating to all of the terrorists’ demands in order to obtain the release of the 101 remaining captives, both alive and dead.
Hirsch said that the war “can be stopped tomorrow” and “Gaza can be restored” if Hamas would return all the hostages and agree to “demilitarization [and] deradicalization.”
Israel would even agree to giving “safe passage for [Hamas] to leave the Gaza Strip,” he said.
For now, “The military pressure will not stop” to get the hostages freed he said, and the negotiations, such as they are, continue. “We are waiting for the final proposal from the mediators and the United States. At the same time, our teams are working on alternative plans B, C, and D.”
The annual MEAD Summit features politicians, policymakers and leaders who promote the role of the United States in achieving a secure, stable Middle East that aligns with common interests and values through policy-driven discussions.