Israeli military accidentally shoots and kills 3 Israelis held hostage in Gaza

[moniss]

48. The ending of talking and resumption of killing has

not brought about a single hostage release. As I said there is almost never a ceasefire anywhere, particularly between these parties, that is without sporadic fire and deaths. There has been no year since Balfour at least that has not had dead Palestinians and dead Israelis no matter whether there was a supposed ceasefire. Whether they were two hostages short on the last day is no reason to throw the whole thing away. As I stated many times it is doubtful that Hamas is in full possession and control of all of the hostages and that some of them are likely to be with these smaller terrorist groups. So the negotiation in Qatar is not just with Hamas but it likely involves Hamas having to turn and negotiate also with these smaller groups. One or more of these groups may well have backed out of a promise made. The effort should have been to find out why and keep trying while extending the pause in the bombing etc. As an example did the group demand that Hamas give them certain things like amounts of money and weapons and then when it came time for the exchange did they up the ante beyond what Hamas could deliver. Remember that Qatar and "others'' behind the scenes are likely trying to facilitate the supply of what is being asked for but it may not be as simple as changing your order at the restaurant. If they asked for more lethal weapons for instance that may be something that is not going to be allowed so then you have to try to find something else that will make the negotiation move along. It also has to be remembered that they all may not be in direct, instantaneous communication with each other and all of what I have said may well be a complicated back and forth taking more time than simple phone calls.

If they want the best chance to get the hostages back alive then negotiating is the best route to success. Bombing and leveling the place is your best chance to have them killed in the action. Which do you want? Even if you couldn't get all of them that was promised during the ceasefire you must keep negotiating because you may get some more of them. It also may be a bitter pill to swallow to realize that the bombing has already likely killed some of the hostages. So try to negotiate to get them so that the respect of a funeral and respect for the loss can be given to their families.