GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 237

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Israel Isn’t Budging

Listening to Israel and Hamas talk it is clear that neither side will change their demands making any hostage deal a waste of time. We hear what Israel is thinking from an article from The Times Of Israel:

Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi today told relatives of several hostages held in Gaza that the current government will not agree to end the war in exchange for Hamas releasing all the hostages it has been holding since October 7, according to quotations published by Channel 12 tonight.

Hanegbi told the families at the meeting earlier today, however, that he did think the government would be able to achieve a “stage one” deal for the return of hostages in the so-called humanitarian category in the near future, according to the report.

Hanegbi, who is close to the PM, upset many in attendance:

The national security adviser, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rebuked and insulted the relatives, the report also said, and one female relative left the meeting in tears.

Channel 12 quoted Hanegbi telling the families that, “The first stage of the deal, the humanitarian phase, we will be able to achieve within a few short months. It won’t take many months and not years.”

He then added that he doesn’t see a complete deal getting done:

But, he reportedly added, “I don’t believe that this government will succeed in completing the entire deal. This government will not take a decision on stopping the war for the return of all the hostages.

“We have to keep fighting in order that there won’t be another October 7 in October 2027,” he reportedly said.

As if he couldn’t make the families even more discouraged, he added this:

“If the hostages don’t return within weeks or a few short months, we have no alternate plan,” Hangebi reportedly acknowledged. “We will continue to fight in Gaza and in the north, and only then will we reassess.”

In response, one of the participants reportedly said, “Well, then we’re lost.”

Hanegbi reportedly replied. “Correct.”

Compassion Wasn’t His Strong Point

He didn’t sound very compassionate at all. But Hanegbi made things even worse when one participant questioned how Netanyahu could build a pool during this time as we continue quoting the Times report:

One of the female participants reportedly protested that money should not be made available in the course of a war for people to build a swimming pool, a comment that Channel 12 said was aimed at Netanyahu.

Hanegebi reportedly responded: “He can build 10 pools with his money. Those are abhorrent things to say.” He reportedly said this was not an appropriate issue for such discussions, and that she should not be exuding such hatred and pain.

Hanegbi should have been humbled with the next response, but he wasn’t:

The relative reportedly responded: “I have every right to feel pain and hate, because I was in the safe room for 15 hours [during the Hamas onsalught]. I fled from the terrorists and stepped on dead bodies, and you didn’t.”

To which Hanegbi reportedly responded, “Okay, go ahead. Curse me.”

Things got worse:

At this point, she left the room in tears, Channel 12 reported. Another female participant then reportedly headed angrily to the door, and Hanegbi said, “You’re also going to make drama, and close the door after you?”

The Channel 12 reporter said he had cross-checked the quotes with members of five different families, and that Hangebi had not denied them.

After the meeting he seemed to be a little more conciliatory:

Hanegbi issued the following response, Channel 12 said: “The National Security Adviser has met with the families of all hostages who seek to meet with him since the beginning of the war. He does not record these conversations and does not disseminate their contents. That is the appropriate way to hold an open dialog between the political echelon and the families in pain.

“I won’t change that practice, even in the wake of today’s meeting. Israel is obligated to achieve the release of all the hostages, and will do so.”

If Netanyahu reads about this meeting I’m hoping he gives Hanegbi a tongue lashing and perhaps send him to a seminar on compassion. But from this we can see that ending the war to get the hostages back doesn’t appear to be point of compromise.

Hamas Isn’t Budging, Either

We see in a report from The Jerusalem Post that Hamas is also digging in its heels on hostage deals:

Attempts to revive the hostage talks appeared to have failed on Thursday night, as Hamas insisted that Israel must agree to end the war and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to speak of victory over the terrorist group.

Hamas informed hostage deal mediators they are ready to reach a “complete agreement,” including a comprehensive swap of captives for security prisoners, but only if Israel would “stop its war and aggression against people in Gaza,” according to a statement the group released on Thursday.

The terrorist group stated that they are trying to get a deal done but Israel won’t relent:

Hamas emphasized that it had been flexible and positive, but that "the occupation used this negotiation to cover up the continued aggression and massacres against our Palestinian people.”

One of the stumbling blocs to the deal, Hamas said, had been Israel’s military campaign in Rafah and its seizure of the Rafah crossing, as it explained that it did not plan to negotiate under fire, especially in light of the “killing, siege, starvation and genocide against our people.”

In short, stop annihilating us, let us survive and we’ll talk about the hostages:

The movement continued: "We informed the mediators today of our clear position that if the occupation stops its war and aggression against our people in Gaza - we will agree to reach a comprehensive agreement that will include a comprehensive exchange deal."

Israel heard about this news as it met to discuss the war, but no minds changed because of it:

News that Hamas was standing its ground came as the war cabinet and security cabinet met to discuss efforts to release the remaining 125 hostages.

Israel has persistently refused to meet that demand, and the negotiators, Egypt and Qatar, have been unable to bridge that gap.

Apparently there was a glimmer of hope:

There had been a slight hope for a breakthrough after Mossad Chief David Barnea, CIA Chief William Burns, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani met in Paris last weekend. Israel then sent another proposal to Hamas in an attempt to revive the talks, but the proposal did not include an agreement to end the war.

The Post article also referred to the meeting with the hostage families:

Channel 12 reported on Thursday night that National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi had met with relatives of some of the hostages on Thursday, and clarified that Israel would not end the war to make a deal to free the hostages. He added that it could be possible to do a second humanitarian deal to free some of them.

Hamas Adds Pressure

Another video of a hostage was released to the public as we see from the same report in The Jerusalem Post:

In an attempt to pressure Israel to agree to a permanent Gaza ceasefire, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is holding some of the captives, published on Thursday its second video this week showing Israeli-Russian hostage Alexander Sasha Trupanov, 28.

The two videos mark the first signs of life from Trupanov since he was captured during the Hamas-led October 7 invasion of Israel, in which 252 hostages were seized.

The video did seem to signs of proof of life:

As a sign that the second video was fairly recent, at least to the last few weeks, he spoke of the government’s decision to shut down Israel’s Al-Jazeera office this month, as he blamed Netanyahu for failing to make a deal.

We would be less than observant if we didn’t realize that the message was not freely given. Of course he wants to be released, but he’s been in captivity for close to 240 days and Hamas is known to pressure these hostages to say exactly what they want them to. Regardless, the PM responded to the videos:

Netanyahu’s office published a short statement, taken from an interview he gave to the French television station TF1, in which he spoke of the importance of victory, a message he has been delivering since the start of the war, including this week in the Knesset.

“I say: Our victory is your victory. Our victory is the victory of Israel against antisemitism. It is the victory of Judeo-Christian civilization against barbarism. It is the victory of France,” he told TF1.

As all this back and forth words about the war is heard with the background of a continuing Rafah offensive that is tightening the noose around Hamas and its leadership:

Israel’s decision to double down on ending the war came as its military operation in Rafah saw some significant successes this week. The IDF regained tactical control of the strategic Philadelphi Corridor by the Egyptian border, and found 20 tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza.