The members of the war cabinet convened on Wednesday night and held a discussion on the possibilities of a hostage deal following the release of the harrowing video of female observation soldiers being abducted from the Nachal Oz base on October 7th.
The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement after the meeting saying that “the war cabinet instructed the negotiation team to continue negotiations for the return of the hostages.”
According to reports, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu directed Maj. Gen. (Res.) Nitzan Alon, one of the heads of the negotiation teams, to offer a concrete proposal similar to the proposal Egypt made early in May that was not rejected outright by Hamas.
Meanwhile, the role of Egypt as a mediator was thrown into question after CNN revealed earlier this week that Egyptian subterfuge had torpedoed any chances for a hostage deal as a senior Egyptian intelligence official had duped the US and Israel by secretly making changes to the deal they approved before presenting it to Hamas, deeply angering CIA Director Bill Burns, who “almost blew a gasket” about being duped.
According to the report, senior Egyptian intelligence official General Ahmed Abdel Khalek reached an agreement with the US and Israel on a deal and then presented a softer version to Hamas.
A source close to the Prime Minister’s Office told Ynet on Tuesday that based on his experience with Egypt, “what CNN revealed showcases Middle Eastern conduct that Americans simply cannot understand. They sell one version to Israel, a softer version to Hamas, pass the first version to the Americans, and pray to Allah it works.”
Some Israelis view the release of the horrifying video as a win for Hamas, which deliberately abducted as many Israelis as they could during the October 7th assault to use as bargaining chips.
Two mothers of male hostages in Gaza, Efrat Mor and Ditza Or, the mothers of Eitan Mor and Avinatan Or, sent a message of support to the female soldiers’ mothers, adding that “the video shows that Hamas is the devil and we must not make deals with the devil.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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One Response
So when Hamas releases videos of hostages being abused and killed it’s psychological warfare, but when Israeli activists do it it’s legitimate and it sends us to negotiate with terrorists?