A picture taken from Israel's southern city of Sderot shows smoke rising during Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
s we enter into the fourth week of the Israel-Hamas war, a clear endgame for the war Israel launched in retaliation for the massacre of October 7 remains elusive. The absence of well-defined Israeli goals may have been understandable at the initial stages of the war given the enormous shock at Hamas’s ability to perpetrate a surprise attack on such a wide scale and the desire for vengeance in view of Hamas’ barbaric atrocities against thousands of Israelis.
The fact, moreover, that third-party negotiations can bring about the release of hostages, as has already been demonstrated by the release of four hostages in two separate deals brokered by both Qatar and Egypt, underscores the availability of an alternative to the use of sheer military force. Under such a deal, Hamas and the other Palestinian groups would release all Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for a blanket release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, estimated at around 6,000. The Israeli hostages would include the two civilians who have been held by Hamas before October 7.
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