An Israeli source speaking to Army Radio today (Tuesday) said that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's claim to have prevented a hostage deal for the past several months is incorrect.
The source said that "contrary to the statement of minister Ben Gvir, the only one who managed to prevent a deal for freeing the hostages since November 2023 is the Hamas terrorist organization, which held fast to its refusal - as even senior officials in the American administration claimed."
He then said that "what changed Hamas' stance now are Israel's incredible achievements in the war: crushing Hezbollah and eliminating Nasrallah, the direct attacks in Iran, eliminating Yahya Sinwar and the rest of the Hamas leadership, the intensive military pressure on Gaza, and the fall of Assad's regime in Syria. This, in addition to the great political pressure applied by American President-elect Donald Trump on Hamas."
According to the source, "Hamas didn't agree to free more than 12 hostages, wasn't willing to reach a deal so long as Israel remained in Gaza, and didn't agree to Israel remaining along the Philadelphi axis after taking it over."
He ended by saying that "Hamas changed its position - not Israel."
Ben Gvir sharply criticized the emerging deal between Israel and Hamas earlier today, calling it "terrible," and saying that it includes "the release of hundreds of terrorist murderers from the prisons, the return of Gazans - including thousands of terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip, removes the IDF from the Netzarim corridor, and returns the threat to the residents of the Perimeter - thus effectively erasing the achievements of the war which were achieved with a great deal of blood by our soldiers, so far, in the Gaza Strip."
Ben Gvir further noted that the deal did not even secure the release of all the prisoners, just some of them.
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