A top Israeli official suggested the country could provide safe passage for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar if the remaining Israeli hostages inside of Gaza are freed.
Israel’s coordinator for hostages and the missing, Gal Hirsch, also said Gaza would need to be “demilitarized and deradicalized” for such a deal to go through. Sinwar is allegedly the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attacks.
“I even believe that we will agree to build safe passage to the chief terrorist, the new Hitler, Sinwar — safe passage to him and whoever he wants to join him out of Gaza,” Hirsch told CNN. Hirsch later told Bloomberg that Israel had already offered Hamas “safe passage” for Sinwar recently, but he did not say what their response was.
Ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel have stalled considerably. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that he will not cede ground, saying Hamas “has to make the concessions.”
President Joe Biden has criticized Netanyahu as not doing enough to secure a ceasefire, though the United States continues to back Israel, and it appears Hamas’s new demands recently have sunk the latest iteration of a deal.
The body of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a U.S. citizen, was recently found in Gaza along with five other dead hostages, sparking outrage among the American and Israeli public. According to CNN, only 64 of the remaining 97 hostages are presumed alive. Of the 154 who escaped or were recovered, 37 died.
A diplomat told the outlet that it is unlikely Sinwar will want to leave Gaza because he believes he’s safer there than countries such as Iran or Lebanon.
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It’s also unlikely Netanyahu will want to free Sinwar, given he’s the man believed to be responsible for hundreds of Israeli deaths in the Oct. 7 massacres that ignited Israel’s current military campaign in Gaza.
Netanyahu visited the Israel-Jordan border on Wednesday, musing that Israel is “in a multifront war” and “must secure our eastern border with Jordan.”
