CNN<\/em><\/span> reported that 64 hostages are presumed alive and 33 presumed dead. And so far, there have been 154 recovered: 109 released\u2014most of them in a prisoner swap last year\u2014eight rescued by the Israeli military, 34 recovered dead and three accidentally killed by the Israeli military.<\/p>\nSinwar 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.<\/p>\n
Safe exit from Gaza would be Sinwar\u2019s best option, a senior researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies [FDD], a think tank based in Washington DC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Hamas\u2019s military capabilities largely wiped out, Israel\u2019s offer to allow Sinwar to escape with his life in exchange for freeing Israeli hostages is likely the terrorist leader\u2019s best option, having been a marked man since October 7,\u201d FDD senior vice president for research Jonathan Schanzer stated in an analysis published by the think tank.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch a deal would be in the interest of Palestinians in Gaza, who would finally be able to rebuild under a deradicalized government,\u201d Schanzer added.<\/p>\n
But putting the interests of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza has not been Hamas\u2019s forte thus far. The terrorist group has put its people in danger every step of the way, using civilians\u2019 homes, schools, hospitals and mosques as terrorist headquarters, weapons storage and launch pads.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cmartyrs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though it\u2019s unclear what Sinwar and Hamas\u2019s response is to the proposed exchange, negotiating the terror chief\u2019s safe exit amid his ongoing calls for his people to sacrifice themselves as martyrs would be right on brand for Hamas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel\u2019s 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. \u201cI\u2019m ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him,\u201d the hostage negotiator, Gal Hirsch, told Bloomberg News on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9632,"featured_media":228695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Israel Offers Sinwar Safe Exit from Gaza in Exchange for Hostages - Bridges for Peace<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n