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Why Israel Agreed to the Hostage Deal with Hamas
(Times of Israel) David Horovitz - The Israeli Cabinet voted 35-3 to approve a limited deal to free some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The mindset at the heart of the agreement was that Israel has unlimited time in which to destroy Hamas, while the imperative to secure the release of hostages was urgent. Obviously, Israel would have wanted an agreement to secure the return of all hostages, but there was no such deal to be made. Obviously, Israel would have wanted the IDF to locate and rescue all the hostages - without necessitating any deal with the terrorists, any release of Palestinian security prisoners, or any halt to the war. But that option was not available either. The current deal was the only hostage-release option available. Crucial to the near-unanimous support in the Cabinet was the pledge by Prime Minister Netanyahu that the war will resume once the deal is carried out, and that the war's aims remain unchanged: the destruction of Hamas' military and governance capabilities and the return of all the hostages. Hamas agreed to the deal in order to secure the release of terrorists from Israeli jails. It has agreed to release 50 Israelis in return for 150 Palestinian women and youths, none of whom has been convicted of murder.