Netanyahu: Israel Will Extend Ceasefire For Release of 10 Hostages Per Day
Will Israel resume the war to eliminate Hamas after a cumulative 1-2 week pause?
The past three days have seen almost 40 Israeli hostages reunited with family in Israel. No one can look at the scenes and the released hostages and not be happy.
IDF releases video of the initial moment hostages were reunited with family. pic.twitter.com/USjSAzIEx9
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) November 26, 2023
No one other than Hamas and the terrorist groups know for sure how many hostages they still have, how many are alive and how many are dead. I’ve seen reports that Qatar is saying there are 40 women and children hostages not under Hamas’ control – likely with other terrorist groups, criminal gangs, and some of the “civilians” who joined in the October 7 massacre.
Hamas has been using the releases as part of its psychological warfare, breaking up families contrary to the ceasefire agreement. Many if not most of the released hostages still have family members (mostly men) held hostage. Israel wants everyone back, but as I have pointed out from Day 1, on October 7, freeing all hostages alive and eliminating Hamas were not consistent:
The hostages held in Gaza will not be recovered alive unless Israel gives major concessions and leaves Hamas in power. While of course Israel wants to get them back alive, Israeli military options are severely constrained if that is the goal. Hamas has grown comfortable taking hostages and using them as shields to temper Israeli military responses. The goals of toppling Hamas and getting the hostages back alive are not consistent. Israel faces a tough choice.
Israel agreed to release 150 imprisoned terrorists for 50 hostages over a four-day period.
That period is over tomorrow. Perhaps reflecting how much damage Hamas suffered, thousands of its members including some of the most senior terrorists, Hamas announced that it wanted to extend the ceasefire daily for the continued release of hostages.
The statement published by Hamas appeared to be the first time that Gaza’s ruling terror group has formally expressed its desire to extend the truce, which has allowed for the first break in the intense fighting since the outbreak of war.
Earlier Sunday, a Hamas source told AFP that the terror group was interested in extending the truce for 2-4 days, indicating that 20-40 more hostages may be freed this week….
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview on Sunday that the pause could be “extended for another day, or two days, or three days or even more.”
“The ball is in Hamas’s court on that because what Israel has said is that it is prepared to pause another day of fighting for every 10 hostages that Hamas releases,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
“If the pause stops, the responsibility for that rests on the shoulders of Hamas, not on the shoulders of Israel,” the top Biden aide asserted.
He acknowledged that the truce has allowed Hamas the ability to “refit and retool” and to “generate propaganda” on social media.
Despite this, he later told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the reason that Israel and Netanyahu ultimately chose to accept the risks that accompany the hostage deal is “because of the benefit they’re getting, which are these incredible images of people being reunited with their families — the humanity of it, the sense of accomplishment of that and the possibility and promise that more and ultimately, all of the hostages will come home.
⚠️ Hostages are revealing that over past few weeks food they received dwindled – down to small amount of only rice.
The ceasefire was because Hamas was running out of food in tunnels underground they desperately need resupply, sadly they are receiving it hundreds of trucks in…
— Ron M. (@Jewtastic) November 26, 2023
Netanyahu agreed today, after speaking to Biden, but promised to renew the attacks on Hamas once the hostage releases ended.
Netanyahu spoke to Biden on the phone. In a statement after the call Netanyahu signaled he is open to extend the pause in fighting. "There is an agreement that allows the release of additional 10 hostages every day and I welcome it", he said
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 26, 2023
At the same time, I also told President Biden that at the end of the outline, we will go to realizing our goals with full force: Eliminating Hamas, ensuring that Gaza will not go back to being what it was and – of course – releasing all of our hostages.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 26, 2023
Statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
“We brought back another group of hostages this evening – women and children, and we are moved from the depths of our hearts, the entire nation, when we see this reuniting of families. It simply stirs the soul.
I have just spoken with President Biden with great emotion, also over the little Avigail, of course. What a joy it is to see her with us, But, on the other hand, how sad it is that she is returning to a reality in which she has no parents. She has no parents – but she has an entire nation that embraces her and we will take care of all her needs. Beyond this, I would like to say that there is also an outline that says that it is possible to release an additional ten [hostages] each day. That would be welcome.
At the same time, I also told President Biden that at the end of the outline, we will go to realizing our goals with full force: Eliminating Hamas, ensuring that Gaza will not go back to being what it was and – of course – releasing all of our hostages.
After having been in Gaza today, where I met with our brave and heroic soldiers, reservists and conscripts, with fire in their eyes, I am convinced that we will succeed in this mission – because we have no other choice.”
How much time that buys Hamas depends on how many live hostages they really have. Likely at least a few more days.
Israel's Channel 12 is reporting after today's release, Hamas has 177 hostages: 18 children; 43 women; 116 men, including military/civilians. If truce extends to release 61 women and children that buys Hamas another 6 days at 10 a day. Then ground campaign resumes if not sooner.
— Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2) November 26, 2023
But at some point the supply of hostages runs out, and not just numerically. The hostages released so far have been mostly the elderly and children. The coming days will likely see mostly women released, plus a few more children. That will leave over 100 Israeli men left behind, including soldiers. Hamas must be calculating that the international pressure (Egypt, Qatar) on it will be lowered once the women and children are released. Hamas is going to hang onto the Israeli men unless Israel pays an incredible price in the release of senior terrorists, not just the low level terrorists released to date.
Will Israel resume the war to eliminate Hamas after a cumulative 1-2 week pause?
To date Israel has been remarkably united, but that will not go on forever.
Protest outside Prime Minister Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem calling for his resignation.
🎥 Reuven Gafni Shechtman pic.twitter.com/HEKsIpJsid
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) November 25, 2023
No matter how much damage Hamas and the other terrorist groups have suffered, if the Hamas leadership survives inside Gaza, they win.
This A.F. Branco cartoon from 2014 sums it up:
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Comments
Mistake
But once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end.
War’s very object is victory, not prolonged indecision.
In war there is no substitute for victory.
There are some who, for varying reasons, would appease Red China. They are blind to history’s clear lesson, for history teaches with unmistakable emphasis that appeasement but begets new and bloodier war. It points to no single instance where this end has justified that means, where appeasement has led to more than a sham peace. Like blackmail, it lays the basis for new and successively greater demands until, as in blackmail, violence becomes the only other alternative.
McArthur to Congress, 1951.
Pay attention, Bibi.
Thus explains every foreign policy disaster since WWII. Seems like we should have and should now pay attention also. But we haven’t gotten any smarter since 1951.
I’m disappointed.
Looks like it’s taking Hamas longer than expected to re-arm.
This strikes me as a mistake.
Geez I hope Bibi is playing 5 dimension chess and we are too dumb to see how this is a good move.
But I kinda doubt it.
Well, I thought they’d get it right this time around but Netanyahu apprently hasn’t learned the lessons that needed to be learned over the decades when dealing with Hamas and is just setting up Israel for further violent terrorism on a grand scale in the near future. Too bad that, this was the golden opportunity to rid themselves of Hamas once and for all.
There is no they and Israel has been under much greater pressure than now without submitting to it. This was the decision of Netanyahu. Getting back hostages was the goal, destroy hamas was a bluff. The world took it seriously so this will look like a decisive defeat.
Hope the next prime minister presides over Hezbollah not being able to penetrate Israel’s borders, and taking Hamas seriously enough that it can’t repeat.
From a military standpoint not optimal.
However, political reality is that he has to do hostage deals. By doing so he keeps US and domestic support for what will be several more months to crush Hamas.
Essentially a pragmatic concession to reality.
Initially after October 7th Erdogan told Hamas all is lost not even he could protect them. If the only goal was getting the hostages back Netanyahu is at absolutely best spectacularly incompetent for not enlisting Erdogan then instead of doing a show of force which failed to achieve what he could have done with a conversation with Istanbul (Hamas has killed multiple hostages).
This is the end of the war, 20 days from now if you think the world including western countries didn’t like Israel going on the offensive now; not to mention the amount of civilian shields hamas could set up, the opportunities to get in good with the press.
If Hamas has agreed to release all hostages it is better than outright losing the war…..I really can not for the life of me even begin to understand why Netanyahu would do “destroy Hamas” as a goal without meaning it. He could have achieved exactly this by talking to Erdogan when Erdogan was stating publicly and privately that all was lost for Hamas.
Turkey is pretty much islamist now. Not sure what a “discussion” would have achieved that didn’t look like what is already happening.
IMO all Israel is doing is trading hostage deaths for the deaths of more soldiers if the war resumes with Hamas better positioned. On the other hand, if the war does not resume and Hamas is not eliminated, the result will be a lot more Israeli deaths, of both civilians and soldiers, in the future.
sigh
Granting that the American media is known for inaccuracies and deliberate falsehoods. But just a few hours ago I heard a report that HAMAS was ready to call off the truce at the end of the 4 days. That surprised me, but then again it is also highly likely that pretty much all of the unreleased hostages are dead. Unless this is some sort of gambit to make HAMAS out obviously to have killed all of the hostages, it looks like a defeat for Israel to continue.
Subotai Bahadur
We will soon see who is right.
One possibility is Netanyahu always saw the main goal as freeing the hostages and when some of them turned up killed by Hamas he couldn’t bring himself to continue the war.
People take hostages for a reason.
That is a possibility. Speculations aside, Netanyahu’s very difficult, proper, and immediate response should have been; “We have a deal. it is your deal and we, you and us, will abide by it. You have one hour to confirm that you will do so. If Israel does not hear so from you directly – not via Qatar, some media outlet, second or third world diplomat, public pronouncement, or other publicity stunt – that we will proceed as originally agreed, the IDF will resume operations in Gaza within one hour after that.”
This would have been a very, very difficult position and subjected Israel and Netanyahu to global howls of indignation. My heart goes out to the families of the hostages. However, absent this, or something very, very similar, globally, the hostages will be replaced by some other sort of blackmail by a renegade killer state that has access to and control of a band of thugs and stone killers with a list of third rate grievances, mostly reflecting problems they’ve brought on themselves. Russia and it’s Wagner group or the Arab world with its handy, useful Palestinian “victims’ come to mind.
The civilized world is in desperate need of some backbone, today, now; not a collection of Vichy operatives.
The Biden admin is doing all it can to undermine the Israelis–this is something else Netanyahu has to consider.
Agree fully. Benjamin Netanyahu has an awful lot on his plate and must feel he is working the problems almost alone. There are undoubtedly, and hopefully, some he can rely upon domestically who are unknown publicly, but the waters must be terribly uncertain after the past year’s attempts to get rid of him. The list of those upon whom he feels he can rely and trust internationally and publicly must be a blank sheet of paper. He, the hostages, and their families have my deepest sympathy.
Hostages today, a secreted nuclear or biological weapon tomorrow. This is a monumentally catastrophic blunder. Iran, China, and Russia are watching. The tragedy of these hostages will pale by comparison to what lies ahead. It is inevitable.
Every terrorist they release represents future victims. Soldiers and civilians. Innocent people are being marked for death. I can’t see how this is even remotely a moral decision.
Netanyahu has become a major disappointment. From allowing the pogrom on Oct. 7th to happen on his watch to now to chickening out from finishing the job. If Hamas is not eliminated, it will be back to do this as again snd again.
“Become”?! How is this different from anything he’s done in his entire career as prime minister, whether the first time, the second time, or now the third time?
Well, he supports judicial reform.
No, he doesn’t. He was dragged there kicking and screaming, and took the first opportunity to dump it. If he had supported it it would have been done at least fifteen years ago.
He did a masterful job desocializong Israel’s economy, and he set up the circumstances to allow Israel to become the start-up nation and Silicon Valley East. He also allowed settling of Judea and Samaria, and he was the PM when the Abraham Accords were signed. Moreover, the initiation of reining in an out-of-control juristocracy has much to commend for it. His original goal of the war on Hamas was IMHO the correct one. If he doesn’t finish the job, he will be remembered not for the good he did but for the evil of Oct. 7. Of course, if you are an inveterate hater of Netanyahu, you will dismiss all of this as happenstance under his watch.
He got a lot of major projects completed in Israel according to people I spoke to there in May. They gave him credit for getting a lot accomplished as the history had been revolving door leadership and he has continuity. This assessment was from a person who is aligned politically with Netanyahu’s opposition.
A rabbi who sat next to me on my return flt to NY stated his opinion that Netanyahu has more than half of the population on his side.
If he can navigate this obstacle course and get the hostages returned, crush Hamas and implement new teaching in Gaza to offset the indoctrination of hate and terror taught by Hamas and most of the schools funded or operated by the UN and western leftists he will have made a huge step in improving the security of Israel and lives of Palestinians..
He did a good job on the economy when he was Treasurer, not prime minister. His history as prime minister is the opposite.
He froze Jewish housing in the “territories”, in a futile attempt to appease 0bama. Even when he lifted the official freeze, he implemented an unofficial one.
He showed us who he really was right at the beginning of his first stint as PM, when he gave away Hevron. Peres, who had signed the agreement to do so, held off and didn’t actually do it. Netanyahu had the perfect opportunity to rip up the agreement, but insisted on carrying it out, even though he knew people would pay for it with their lives. Baby Shalhevet’s blood is partially on his hands.
I hope they put a tracking chip into all 150 of these animals.