The current form of the Paris hostage release deal and temporary ceasefire could have been implemented by now if Hamas had agreed to the terms.
By Shula Rosen
Following Hamas’s refusal to fulfill Israel’s demand for a list of the names of the surviving hostages in Gaza, a senior Israeli source said that there is “no doubt’ that October 7th Hamas mastermind Yahya Sinwar is deliberately sabotaging the hostage deal to cause bloodshed over the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The current form of the Paris hostage release deal, which reached its second impasse after having been stalled a month ago, could have been implemented by now if Hamas had agreed to the terms, according to US officials.
The Israeli official says that Yahya Sinwar is deliberately “creating chaos” and wants to force Israel to fight in Gaza during Ramadan to further tarnish Israel’s image globally.
The official has also indicated that Israel’s War Cabinet is unanimous in its refusal to send any delegation to Cairo as long as Hamas refuses to release information about surviving hostages.
Despite blaming Israel for the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, US Vice President Kamala Harris also said Hamas was responsible for creating roadblocks in a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal.
She said, “Hamas claims its wants a ceasefire. Well, there is a deal on the table. And as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal.”
The current proposal, negotiated between US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt, would have implemented a 6 week ceasefire before the beginning of Ramadan on March 9th coinciding with the release of female, elderly and wounded hostages in exchange for increased humanitarian aid and Israel letting certain numbers of Palestinian prisoners free.
Although the US and Israel were cautiously optimistic that the deal would go through, Hamas declared on Sunday that it would not release names of surviving hostages or commit to a set number of Palestinian prisoners to be released.
In response, Israel refused to send a delegation to Cairo for final negotiations on the deal.
In an interview with the BBC, a Hamas official indicated that the terror organization doesn’t know where all of the hostages are located and don’t know which ones are alive or dead.
However, the Hamas official lays the blame for the plight of the hostages at Israel’s feet and told the BBC that some of the hostages may have been “killed because of [Israeli] strikes or hunger.”