Israel Offers Sinwar Safe Exit from Gaza in Exchange for Hostages

September 13, 2024

by: Kate Norman

Israel’s chief hostage negotiator said he offered Hamas political leader Yahya Sinwar safe passage out of Gaza in return for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in the terror enclave.

“I’m ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him,” the hostage negotiator, Gal Hirsch, told Bloomberg News on Tuesday. “We want the hostages back. We want demilitarization, de-radicalization of course—a new system that will manage Gaza.”

Hirsch told Bloomberg on Tuesday that he had made the offer a day and a half prior to the interview but did not indicate that he had received a response.

Following the October 7 massacre—which Sinwar is credited for planning, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping some 240 hostages—Israel launched its ground invasion into Gaza with two goals: rescue the hostages and wipe Hamas out of power in the enclave.

According to CNN, there are an estimated 97 hostages remaining in Gaza—though other publications say 101. CNN reported that 64 hostages are presumed alive and 33 presumed dead. And so far, there have been 154 recovered: 109 released—most of them in a prisoner swap last year—eight rescued by the Israeli military, 34 recovered dead and three accidentally killed by the Israeli military.

Sinwar was named the political chief of Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh was killed in an air strike in Iran in July. Israel was blamed for the assassination, though Jerusalem never commented on its alleged involvement.

Safe exit from Gaza would be Sinwar’s best option, a senior researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies [FDD], a think tank based in Washington DC.

“With Hamas’s military capabilities largely wiped out, Israel’s offer to allow Sinwar to escape with his life in exchange for freeing Israeli hostages is likely the terrorist leader’s best option, having been a marked man since October 7,” FDD senior vice president for research Jonathan Schanzer stated in an analysis published by the think tank.

“Such a deal would be in the interest of Palestinians in Gaza, who would finally be able to rebuild under a deradicalized government,” Schanzer added.

But putting the interests of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza has not been Hamas’s forte thus far. The terrorist group has put its people in danger every step of the way, using civilians’ homes, schools, hospitals and mosques as terrorist headquarters, weapons storage and launch pads.

When Israel has issued warnings of civilians to evacuate certain areas ahead of an impending strike, Hamas leaders have urged them to stay, either deterring the Israeli strike or dying as “martyrs.”

Though it’s unclear what Sinwar and Hamas’s response is to the proposed exchange, negotiating the terror chief’s safe exit amid his ongoing calls for his people to sacrifice themselves as martyrs would be right on brand for Hamas.

Posted on September 13, 2024

Source: (Bridges for Peace, September 13, 2024)

Photo Credit: Chenspec/Wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia