Hamas Sets Conditions to Free Hostages and End War [View all]

Source: Newsweek

Hamas has offered to release all hostages captured on October 7, 2023, after the U.S. hostage envoy said the fighting would end immediately if they are all freed.

But Hamas also set demands including the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and the withdrawal of Israel's troops from the strip, Gaza-based Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya said. The group has consistently said it will not disarm, making its terms unlikely to be acceptable to Israel.

Newsweek has reached out to the Israel Defense Force and the office of Prime Minister Benjamin's Netanyahu for comment.
Why It Matters

The latest proposal from Hamas suggests a different course from previous hostage releases under temporary ceasefire arrangements in which small groups of Israeli hostages – both death and alive – were handed back in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-sets-conditions-free-hostages-end-war-2061435

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So here is the deal:

Hamas started the war in violation of the previous cease fire. Hamas took hostages and killed many of them. Hamas now wants, as a pre-condition to the negotiations taking place, the end of the war and a whole bunch of terrorists, many serving life sencences for murder, released from Israeli jails.

They want to go back to the pre-October 7 status quo, before they violated a cease fire, took over 200 hostages and started the war, and pay no price for either. IN ADDITION, they want Israel to release thousands of prisoners, including hundreds of convicted terrorists.

Or else.

In what demented Kafkaesque nightmare would this be considered a reasonable negotiating stance?