The Israel-Hamas Hostage Deal Innocents will be freed, but the terrorists get a chance to regroup.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-hamas-hostage-deal-gaza-51e141eb?mod=opinion_lead_pos1
The hostage deal that Israel and Hamas reached Tuesday will spare the lives of some 50 Israelis, and that is a great relief to the innocents and their families. The cost is a short-term cease-fire that Hamas will exploit, and three-quarters of the 236 hostages will remain in terrorist hands.
Israeli leaders believe the trade is worth it, and it’s not our place to second-guess their judgment. In exchange for returning Israeli children and women, 12 or 13 a day, Hamas is set to receive a four-day pause in Israeli military operations and the release of about 150 of its under-18 and female operatives from Israeli prisons.
During the cease-fire, Israel will allow more fuel and aid into Gaza. The pause might also extend longer if Hamas gives up more hostages, 10 for each additional day.
The deal again shows the moral gulf between the two sides. Hamas kidnapped Israeli children as young as nine months to use as hostages and spring its jihadists who have been arrested or convicted in a fair trial for their crimes. Israel takes military risks to save its citizens. Hamas risks Palestinian civilians to save itself.
Even as Israelis rejoice for the women and children who will return home, they know Hamas is rejoicing too. Its war crimes have been rewarded. It will steal fuel from its own people to power its terror tunnels. Its shattered northern Gaza brigades will use the cease-fire to regroup, escape from weak positions and set more ambushes for Israeli troops. Israel’s leaders made this deal knowing that their soldiers will pay for it.
Every Israeli also knows that Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was among the 1,027 prisoners Israel released in 2011 in exchange for one kidnapped IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit. In that deal, 280 of the released Palestinian prisoners were serving life sentences for heinous crimes. This time Israel says none of the prisoners it will release have been convicted of murder.
Expect Hamas to drag out the cease-fire in hopes of making it permanent. Dribbling out 10 hostages a day, Hamas could stall for a few weeks. Or what if it claims after day two that Israel has broken the deal and hostage releases will continue only after Israel holds off for another few days? What if it pulls that trick over and over?
The domestic and international picture will become more complicated for Israel. At home a nation united will be divided over how long to wait. Abroad, the pressure to continue the cease-fire indefinitely will grow, and Israel can expect harsher criticism when it resumes fighting. Israelis know all this, but they are willing to accept the costs to retrieve the captives.
They are also unwavering in their determination to overthrow Hamas. The Israeli cabinet says fighting will resume immediately once the cease-fire is up.
The deal’s timing isn’t bad for Israel. Having assumed a dominant position in Gaza’s north, it needs to prepare to turn south. U.S. deputy national security adviser Jon Finer stressed on Sunday that more time is needed before an Israeli advance to determine how to protect civilians in Gaza’s south. Israel can do that and prepare its next move.
Much depends on the Biden Administration. Complaints from the Democratic left are no reason to let the Hamas jihadists who carried out the Oct. 7 massacre stay in power in Gaza. President Biden has said Hamas needs to be destroyed. If he means it, he will back Israel’s right to resume fighting and finish the job after hostages are released.
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