Former IDF senior intelligence officer Raphael Jerusalmy offered his perspective on the reliability of peace talks for Israel, saying to “forget about” liberating all hostages.
Jerusalmy told i24News that Hamas is in “no hurry” to release hostages, stating that news of negotiations is “just a game” to please Qatar and the White House.
“They [the IDF] know that nothing is happening, and we are now trying just to know whether the Hamas means business in any way, or is just pleasing, uh, the Qatar and the, even the White House by kind of seeming to negotiate, but not really negotiating at all. It’s just a game,” the former IDF intelligence officer told the outlet. “That’s why there was a lot of leeway given to the Israeli delegation to be, like, willing to offer quite a lot of stuff just to test, uh, the willingness of the Hamas to progress.”
“Which seems to me very hopeless right now, for the simple reason that in the mind of the Hamas, time is in their favor, is playing in their favor. The more they prolong it, the more they have a chance to regroup, to redeploy,” he stated
“They [the IDF] think that time is of the essence in a way. And there’s no hurry to liberate hostages,” Jerusalmy continued. “In any case, they will not liberate all of the hostages. We can forget about that. We can only hope for a partial intermediary solution of some hostages being liberated for a very high price that we are willing to pay, long truth, liberating hundreds of terrorists.”
Jerusalmy further explained that Israeli authorities would have to decide which terrorists to “liberate” in return for hostages still held by Hamas, emphasizing the danger certain individuals would continue to pose to Israelis.
Former IDF intelligence officer Raphael Jerusalmy analyzes the current terms and conditions on the ceasefire-hostage release talks table, discussing what Israel should agree to and what it should expect from Hamas pic.twitter.com/LljhuHYacK
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) March 18, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip on March 3 as Israel was engaged in peace talks in Cairo. However, Israel backed out of the negotiations shortly after because the Islamic terror group Hamas refused to confirm which hostages were still alive, according to Haartetz. (RELATED: ‘You Can’t Hide!’: Pro-Palestinian Activists Invade Lobby Of New York Times Building)
Conflict in the Gaza Strip has escalated since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack against Israel, which reportedly killed 1,163 people. Since then, the Biden administration has faced increasing calls to support a ceasefire at the Gaza Strip due to Biden’s initial support of Israel.