Why Hamas Agreed to Release the Hostages

Yes, the arguments ranged from you saying, “Well, actually, the school or the hospital had to be bombed for military reasons, and it was a legitimate military target,” to, on the issue of hunger, just outright negation. It was something like, “We don’t want to give Hamas food,” but the real argument was, “People just don’t starve.” It was simply a denial of reality.

Yes, it was about Hamas propaganda. It got to the point where even Donald Trump said, “Sorry, it can’t be faked.” This is real fasting. These things cannot be faked. So I think it really touched people, and once you realize that Israel may not be the light of the world that you were taught to believe in, I think it changes something – and it's irreversible. So now you don't see the consequences, but over time we will definitely see consequences in terms of policy and ultimately policy. And this is only if our democracies mean something.

So we won't see it.

If we follow the authoritarian path, then yes.

Last week it seemed to me that when it became clear that Hamas was going to hand over the hostages, the momentum shifted in favor of getting this deal done, and even Netanyahu could not back down. I'm curious why Hamas didn't hand over the hostages recently. Let's leave the moral question aside. I don't think Hamas was too concerned about this. But in a practical sense, I don't quite understand why they didn't try this strategy. It felt like the hostages didn't have much to gain. And much of the argument for continuing the war was about the hostages, even when it was clear to people paying attention that the Israeli government and Netanyahu did not care about the hostages. This was the only excuse the Israelis had left.

I wondered this too. It also became clear to me that if hostages were their only leverage, then it wasn't really that much leverage anymore, because Netanyahu had made it clear that he would rather have his own. eternal war than hostages. So why don't they just call his bluff and say, “Okay, here are all the hostages”? They could do it. I don't know why they didn't do this. They may have just never come to that conclusion – they were probably still clinging to the idea that this was their last bit of leverage and if they gave it up they would literally have nothing left, and they may have thought it would feel like surrender. I don't know. But I think you're right. I don't think it was really leverage anymore. It was just a topic of conversation for the Israelis. The whole conversation was so cynical.

Do you have any optimistic views on what this deal will mean for the Gaza Strip in the medium term? I hope that a short-term truce will mean the arrival of food and aid in much more sufficient quantities, but do you have any hope beyond that?

I think we have a very difficult road ahead. I haven't been to Gaza for the past two years, but from everything I've seen and read, it's going to be difficult. I don't know if Gaza is even a place where people can continue to live in any meaningful way. Almost everything is destroyed. Almost nothing remains, not even of Gaza City. All hospitals are practically not functioning. There are no universities. There are no schools. There are no roads. There are no treatment facilities and no infrastructure. Everything was destroyed. What will it take to recover? Obviously this would require enormous resources and I just don't know if they will be there. Perhaps there will be some kind of donor conference and all sorts of promises, but will they be realized? If history is any indication, it's likely that only a portion will actually be exposed.

I'm concerned that in the medium to long term people will simply leave. If people can leave, those who can will leave, and who could blame them? People just want to live a normal life. They will say, “I don't have a business, and my house is gone. My workplace is gone. My kids have nowhere to go to school.” So I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see some sort of exodus in the next few years just because people need to live. They will go where they are allowed to go. I'm sure many European countries and the United States will close their doors to people fleeing Gaza, but they will go wherever they can.

So I just don't know if Gaza can recover. It makes me incredibly sad to say this because we are talking about a society of two million people. Gaza is the largest city in Palestine. This is one of the oldest places on earth. Just a lot has been lost. Will Gaza be able to survive beyond basic existence? I don't know.

What about the possibility of Hamas disarming and Israel actually withdrawing its troops?

The two are connected. They are very connected. It will be very difficult to disarm Hamas under any circumstances, because this is the reason for its existence. This is a resistance movement, and giving up weapons before the Israeli occupation ends, before the Palestinians have established their own state, looks like capitulation. So, on the face of it, it will be very difficult, but it will be especially difficult when we know that much of Gaza will have an unspecified Israeli military presence – or at least very large parts of it, right down to the outskirts of populated areas, provided that people are allowed to return to the north.