Netanyahu rejected ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza, sources say
theguardian.com
Israeli PM said to have turned down proposal in early talks and continues to take tough line
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Israeli PM said to have turned down proposal in early talks and continues to take tough line
Of course he did.
The hostages are much more valuable to Israel in captivity, so they can continually exploit them for genocidal justifications.
This is simply not true.
There were talks about up to 15 hostages, of 239 in demand for 4 days of ceasefire. Hamas needs this ceasefire desperately to regroup and assess the damages. The chaos now serves Israel well and apparently it puts much more pressure on Hamas. The ground invasion proves very effective. Maybe as Hamas becomes more desperate the "price" for the hostages will drop. Alternatively, if Israel will allow them to regroup, the war will take significantly more time because it will be much harder to eradicate them. Maybe the Israelis know where the hostages are held and after a ceasefire the hostages will be transferred to a different hideout, or smuggled via the tunnels to Egypt and from there to who knows where.
Neutral and Israel alligned countries have been calling for a humanatarian pause on purely humanitarian grounds. Even if you don't care about the hostages, that Hamas was willing to offer them means that they had an interest in such a pause as well; making Israel the only obstacle to it happening. That is to say, the severity of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is squarly on Israel's shoulders. The most charitable reading of the situation is that they have determined that the tactical advantage of blocking a humanitarian pause outways the civilian lives they put at risk by doing so.
And even that charitable reading means they are committing collective punishment.
It's not about the hostages any more. They are the excuse Israel needs to eradicate a whole country.
Israel cares a whole lot about its hostages. Evidence for that are the prices they were willing to pay in the past.
But sure, let's go with your logic. Why can't Israel just go carpet-bombing the crowded part in the south of the Gaza strip that all the refugees fled to? It would be a very effective way to eradicate them all. They are so crowded in such a small area that it's possible to kill a couple hundred thousands in a single day. Wow, Israel has a lot to learn on how to ethnically cleanse a region.
!remindme 1 week "hmmmm"
Netanyahu has been on confrontation with the families of the hostages for weeks now.
This proves nothing. Of course there would be people who wish for any deal regardless of the conditions and it is not surprising that they will confront the government about it.
The price of Hamas not "regrouping" is not worth committing genocide for.