NEW YORK, November 6. /TASS/. Political leaders of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas have been asked in secret talks with Israel to release all hostages in the Gaza Strip and put those involved in war crimes on trial in exchange for their own lives, Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Seymour Hersh said on his Substack blog, citing sources.
"The Hamas political leadership was not involved in the massacre," Hersh quoted an unnamed US official as saying. "And the thought was that if they agree to try their own people and order them executed, they will be given their lives while also exonerating Israel for the war. We’re holding out clemency for the Hamas political leadership - giving them a chance to surrender the hostages and cling to life by moving them to the hospital," the US official told Hersh.
According to the journalist, Israeli authorities want the death penalty for leaders of the movement's armed wing who, according to Hersh, "encouraged and then did nothing to stop the war crimes of their fighters."
The leader the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is also directly involved in the secret negotiations for the hostages' release. According to Hersh, Sinwar is open to a deal. "The concept of an Israeli-instigated war-crimes tribunal amid a bombing campaign that has flattened much of Gaza may seem out of a bad novel but an Israeli expert on the region, who knows of the seriousness of current hostage talks, surprised me by depicting Sinwar as someone ‘who could be open to a deal’," Hersh wrote.
According to the journalist’s unnamed source, Sinwar and others in the Hamas political leadership now in Qatar may want any deal on the hostages to include assurances that Israel will not prosecute them if a deal is reached. "Dedicated to the cause. No family, very religious but got very friendly with Shin Bet [Israeli internal security] guys while in prison and was seen as not irrational. He will want a chance to give service to the cause. He will be open to a door," Hersh quoted the expert as saying.
It is noted that Hamas fighters in Gaza's underground tunnels will soon face shortages of food, water and fresh air, as there is very little fuel left to run the oxygen generators. "The more than two hundred miles (about 320 kilometers - TASS) of tunnels will inevitably become a death trap, making life below ground as difficult as it is above," Hersh wrote. "Hamas must begin to release the hostages," he quoted an unnamed US official as saying.
On Palestinian-Israeli conflict
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank.