No truce talks; control Gaza to defeat Hamas: says ex-Shin Bet official

Ceasefire talks are prolonging Hamas’ survival, warns retired Shin Bet official Yossi Amrusi.

By World Israel News Staff

A retired senior Israeli intelligence official has urged Israel to end ceasefire negotiations and take full control of humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza.

He also emphasized the need to separate civilians from Hamas operatives to secure a decisive victory over the terror group.

Israel must “first declare that it is no longer willing to negotiate as it has been” and then “push as much as it can” to relocate Gaza’s civilian population into designated humanitarian zones that would be off-limits to Hamas terrorists, Yossi Amrusi told the Hebrew-language outlet Ma’ariv.

Amrusi argued that Israel must oversee aid distribution directly, noting that Hamas exploits humanitarian goods as both a bargaining chip and a revenue stream, selling stolen supplies to civilians at exorbitant prices.

He added that some hostages are being held by smaller jihadi factions and suggested Israel should bypass Hamas leadership and negotiate directly with those captors.

Jerusalem should offer the hostage-holders “money and their lives in exchange for the captives,” he proposed.

Amrusi warned that both Israel’s desperation to free hostages and mounting international pressure to end the war embolden Hamas to take a harder line in ceasefire talks.

“A clever Persian trader once told me in the market: ‘You’ll win the deal when you’re willing to lose it.’ And why? For several reasons,” Amrusi told Ma’ariv.

“One, Hamas benefits from dragging things out. It continues to hold the key to its survival, and in the meantime, who knows what could happen? European pressure, a false starvation campaign, Trump might flip on Israel, internal pressure on the government. All of these, and each on its own, are good for” the terror group, he said.

“I’ve always said Hamas will release the hostages when we force them to release them, but we don’t know how to do that,” Amrusi added.

“Military pressure isn’t being applied to its full extent, and our soldiers’ hands are pretty tied. We’re bringing in humanitarian aid that gives Hamas life – oxygen, fuel, and money.”

He concluded that Israel’s hesitation to facilitate emigration from Gaza and delays in establishing secure humanitarian zones are obstructing a clear path to victory.

“We simply don’t know how to win,” Amrusi said.