The efforts to secure a hostage release agreement between Hamas and Israel appear to be stalled on Thursday, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of being “delusional.” The premier reportedly ordered the Israeli delegation to Cairo not to participate in future talks.
257 people were kidnapped during Hamas’s surprise offensive against Israel on October 7, most of them Israeli civilians. In response to the offensive, Israel launched a massive retaliation against the Gaza-based terrorist organization aimed at toppling Hamas and releasing the hostages.
Since then, 123 hostages have been released. Most of them were freed as part of a hostage deal with Hamas, while three were released in military operations. The fate of the remaining October hostages is unclear; while Israeli intelligence believes at least 30 are dead, there is no confirmation on the situation of any of the hostages. Four of the 134 hostages still in Gaza were abducted years before the current war. Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were killed in a military operation in 2014. In addition, two civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, are being held in the Gaza Strip after straying there accidentally.
Since the abduction, the families of the hostages have been hanging on to every word in every media report. The reports fluctuate between optimism that a deal is close to being clinched to pessimism that the gap between the sides is too large to be bridged.
The current international effort is being led by Egypt, which has been hosting the talks between the sides, the US and Qatar, which is closely affiliated with Hamas. The negotiations have changed the discourse in Israel. Whereas at the beginning of the war, there appeared to be a wide consensus on the precedence of their release, there are an increasing number of voices that call on Israel to carefully consider the price it will pay for the release of the hostages.
Bringing back hostages 'relegated to second place'
“At first there was a public consensus on both goals of the war,” said Professor Motti Neiger from the School of Communication at Bar-Ilan University. “As the understanding that the war will take longer than a few months, there is also an understanding that the goal of hostage release is relegated to second place.”
During the last week, as reports of a stalemate in negotiations persisted, relatives of hostages demonstrated in front of the military and defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Leah Goldin has been waiting for her son Hadar since 2014, when his body was taken by Hamas. Already jaded from the empty promises made by countless Israeli leaders, she also lays blame on the international community. Just last month, several members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council called for the “unconditional release” of hostages as a pre-condition to any ceasefire agreement. Also in January, the European Parliament, the law-making body of the European Union (EU), adopted a resolution also calling for their unconditional release. The resolution was just one of a string of resolutions adopted by various international organizations since 2014 calling for the release of those being held in Gaza before the current war, resolutions that have been ignored.
“We need to fight for our humanitarian rights no less than we do for our enemy,” said Goldin. “Hamas is violating humanitarian law and shouldn’t be given humanitarian aid. They are holding our children and our loved ones – a standing violation of international humanitarian law.”
The first hostage release deal, which took place almost two months after the war began, was met with a broad consensus in the country. Women and children were released in return for a temporary ceasefire and an increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel’s agreement to allow for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza has been met with public criticism throughout the duration of the war. In recent weeks, there have been demonstrations and attempts by people to block the crossings into Gaza, hampering the entrance of goods into the territory.
Since the beginning of the fighting, it was unclear how Israel would strive to topple Hamas while negotiating with it. Operating against it with its full military might, Israel could also risk the hostages and motivate Hamas to kill them rather than keep them alive as bargaining chips.
According to Neiger, Israel’s leadership is still hanging on to the two goals it set out, releasing the hostages and toppling Hamas while not being transparent with the public.
“These goals were probably never able to exist in parallel,” he told The Media Line. “This created an illusion, as the leadership tries to hold on to both goals, saying they support each other when they actually don’t.”
Eitan Mor was kidnapped from the Nova music festival after rescuing tens of party-goers. His father, Tzvika is against any deal that would release his son. The demands by Hamas, which reportedly include the release of thousands of prisoners, the cessation of Israel’s war effort against Hamas, and the complete withdrawal of the army from the Gaza Strip, are deemed too high.
'Hamas should pay the price, not Israel'
“Israel shouldn’t be the one to pay the price, it should be Hamas,” Mor, who founded the Tikva Forum, which is against any deal, told The Media Line. “Israeli citizens have already paid enough, and we will not risk our security by surrendering to a terrorist organization that will portray weakness to the rest of our enemies, the thousands of terrorists that will be released, and those already free that will be incentivized to carry out attacks.”
Mor is not alone. Recent polls have shown Israelis are gradually leaning against a hostage deal in the current terms being negotiated. On Wednesday, a poll conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute showed that 40% of Israelis chose to overthrow Hamas, compared with 32% who prioritized returning the hostages. A poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) in late January showed that 60% of Israeli Jews are against a deal that would secure the release of the hostages in return for releasing all Palestinian prisoners and halting the fighting in Gaza.
“My son holds the same opinion as me,” Mor told The Media Line. “This is his upbringing. Hostages should be released only by defeating the enemy.”
Amongst the relatives of the hostages, Mor is in a minority.
“But in the public, I have wide support,” he added.
In an interview with Kan radio, Israel’s public broadcaster, Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of 80-year-old hostage Yoram Metzger, was highly critical of Netanyahu.
“I don’t believe him. I think he wants to prolong the war in order to remain in power,” she said about the Israeli leader whose approval ratings are plummeting. “Something stinks. This is totally crazy; how can this be considered normal to discuss the worth of hostages in numbers of Palestinian prisoners?”
In the latest demonstrations in favor of a deal, there have also been calls for early elections.
“The families are concerned that the issue will disappear from the public discourse,” said Neiger. “If it is not there, it means the issue has become less important.”
Many of the families have called for the release of all Palestinian prisoners in exchange for their loved ones, saying Israel can deal with toppling Hamas after such a deal would be completed.
“We are smarter. We can settle the score with Hamas later,” Metzger said.
Leah Goldin’s phone has been bombarded with calls and messages since the current hostage crisis began.
“If Israel would have insisted on the release of Hadar and Oron properly, none of this would have happened, this is what I think, and this is what people told me,” she said, also laying the blame on Israel’s current leadership of whom many are still in decision-making positions today, including Netanyahu. “They created this failure, and they are still calling the shots now. Why aren’t they using international humanitarian law? Why hasn’t this happened for over 9 years? Why is Hamas treated as equal?”
UN Security Council resolution 2474, adopted in 2019, calls for the return of “persons reported missing during armed conflict…without adverse distinction.”
In 2011, Israel released over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for one captive Israeli soldier. It was a deal that initially received massive public support. But later, it became a deal that scarred Israelis; as the prisoners were released, it became apparent that many of them continued to plot against the Jewish state. Yahya Sinwar, the current leader of Hamas in Gaza and the mastermind behind the October 7th offensive, was one of the prisoners released in the exchange after his four life sentences were cut short by the deal.
“I cry for my son every day,” said Tzvika Mor, who opposed the deal at the time and continues to hold his position. “But I have not lost my compass. Of course, I want him home, but paying a price for him will exact a price on others, and this is forbidden.”
For now, the gap between Israel and Hamas is apparently too wide. However, increased international pressure for a ceasefire on Israel’s part and on Hamas to agree could lead to a change.