All of the Israeli hostages will not return home unless the war in Gaza ends, according to social and political activist Gershon Baskin.
“There’s very little the international community can do to pressure Hamas to make a deal,” Baskin told ILTV. “Hamas’s main interest is to end the war, and they’ve been saying this for months.”
MAKING A DEAL
(ILTV)
Baskin highlighted that it remains unclear if Hamas would be willing to relinquish governmental control of Gaza. He emphasized that this issue must be addressed politically, not just militarily.
“The issue of Hamas’s weapons and troops is still undefined, and this is something that Israel has refused to address,” Baskin claimed. “It must be dealt with at the political level, not only the military level, if we want a deal that will bring back all the hostages. All the hostages will not come back until the war is over.”
Baskin spoke to ILTV shortly before a Hamas source told Reuters news agency that it had approved a list of 34 hostages for exchange and presented it to Israel. However, the Prime Minister’s Office denied the report.