Comment by tptacek
3 days ago
I've read a lot of reporting over that time period and all of it said Hamas was holding out for a final agreement that would include a permanent cessation of hostilities, while Netanyahu (who, to be clear, I believe to be a war criminal) is publicly on the record saying he would sign a temporary deal that exchanged hostages for prisoners.
If you can cite a source clearly stating Hamas accepted these terms, the May 27/today terms, I'd like to read it. Thanks in advance!
Later
I want to be clear: I'm not saying Hamas didn't offer alternate terms, many many times, over the last year. But you can't "take" a deal your counterparty refuses. What's important about the May 27 terms is that Hamas was forced to accept them anyways. As a descriptive statement, based on the facts of what happened: they should have taken that deal.
Oh it's a temporary 42 day one :c. I assumed it was permanent and that Hamas would not give away all their leverage (the hostages) in exchange for only a pause in the fighting.
No, you're right - they just wore them down.
To: "But you can't "take" a deal your counterparty refuses.", I meant that, several times there were articles saying a ceasefire was near, negotiated by a third party, and in those it has been Israel rejecting it for being permanent and not temporary.
They are not releasing all of the hostages, only 33 out of 98.
Edit: only 22 of the 33 are estimated to be alive, the rest being dead bodies. Not sure what are the estimates for the other 65.
33 hostages with some being bodies. It’s unclear how many alive hostages out of the 98 will still be held by Hamas. There’s also a few bodies Hamas has refused to give from past conflict
Gotcha, makes sense. In that case, I expect that at then end of the 42 days the war will continue and for Trump to hand the West Bank and much of Palestinian land to Israel as a "buffer zone".