Agreeing to Negotiations for 33 Hostages and not for all of them is a Mistake

Dr. Gershon Baskin, who was involved in the negotiations to return Shalit, on Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire as part of a deal was interviewed by Udi Segal and Anat Davidov of Israeli Radio Station 103 FM and feels that the agreement on the table was forced on Sinwar

Yesterday (Monday), the terrorist organization Hamas sent a message to the Qatari and Egyptian mediators regarding their agreement to a cease-fire proposal, but an Israeli official said in response that this was an exercise in order to postpone a military operation in Rafah. Dr. Gershon Baskin, who was involved in the negotiations for the return of Gilad Shalit, commented on the matter.

“There is a lot of negotiation about the logistics and the details, and we are at that stage,” he described. “They kept saying that if there is a positive answer from Hamas, the Israeli delegation will be sent back to Cairo, and the Hamas delegation is supposed to arrive there. We made a very big mistake because we agreed to negotiate for 33 hostages and not all of them. Since Hamas claims that the US gave them a guarantee that the first ceasefire will lead to the end of the war, they decide to believe that Biden will force the end of the war on Israel, so they said yes and they will be committed to what they agreed on. I suggest not to believe anyone, you have to make sure that what was agreed is carried out. Israel has two cards: the renewal of the war and the release of prisoners.”

“The military pressure mainly worked on Egypt”

He also added that

“We are in a war where both sides are obligated to kill each other. I think that the public in Israel especially and of course the residents of the Gaza Strip want the war to stop. There are very heavy political considerations here. I received a document that is supposed to be the Egyptian outline, I did not have time to read it to the end. A Palestinian source passed it on to me. Hamas apparently agreed to it, and the negotiations continued. I think the military pressure was on very intensively, the Egyptian negotiation team was here for three consecutive days put pressure on Hamas for a whole week. The head of the CIA also went to Cairo.”

“There is pressure here on both sides, we also heard that the Americans did not send us weapons,”

Dr. Baskin said at the end of his interview.

“Everyone thinks they know what Sinwar is thinking. I don’t know what he thinks and what he does. I’m guessing like everyone else. I think he will not run away and that he is not enthusiastic about the agreement. He is obliged to die with his hand and kill as many Israelis as possible. In my opinion, the agreement was imposed on him by the Hamas leadership abroad.”

Click here to listen to the original interview in Hebrew.