Faced with this difficult situation, the Israeli Red Team suggests a radical alternative: Israel should call for a permanent ceasefire which would be followed by an immediate Israeli withdrawal of all military forces from Gaza on the condition that Hamas returns all the hostages he left behind. , civilians and soldiers, as well as all the dead. But Hamas will not receive any Palestinian prisoners in exchange. Just a clear agreement: Israeli withdrawal and permanent ceasefire in exchange for more than 130 Israeli hostages.
There would, however, be an Israeli asterisk, which would not be written, but everyone would understand that it is there: Israel reserves the right in the future to bring to justice the senior leaders of Hamas who planned this massacre. But as it did after the Munich massacre, Israel will do it with a scalpel and not a hammer.
What could be the advantages of such a strategy for Israel? The Red Team would name five.
First, he would argue, all the pressure for a ceasefire to spare Gaza’s civilians further death and destruction will fall on Hamas, not Israel. Let Hamas tell its population living in the cold and rain – and the world – that it will not accept a ceasefire for the simple humanitarian price of the return of all Israeli hostages.
Additionally, Israel reportedly ensured that Hamas did not achieve a major political victory in this war, such as forcing Israel to release more than 6,000 Palestinians in its prisons in exchange for the hostages held by Hamas. No, no, it would just be a clear agreement: a permanent ceasefire for the Israeli hostages, period. The world can understand this. Let’s see that Hamas rejects it and says it wants more war.
Second, some, perhaps many, in Israel would complain that the army did not achieve its stated goal of eliminating Hamas and that it was therefore a Hamas victory. The Red Team would respond that, to begin with, the goal was unrealistic, especially with a right-wing Israeli government unwilling to work with the more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to build an alternative to Hamas to rule Gaza.