LEILA FADEL, HOST:
To get more of a sense of that reaction inside Israel, we're joined by Gershon Baskin. He's a veteran hostage negotiator and Israeli peace activist. Good morning, and welcome to the program.
GERSHON BASKIN: Good morning.
FADEL: So what's the Israeli public's reaction been to the government resuming the war in Gaza?
BASKIN: Well, what we've seen is that the majority of Israelis, between 65% to 80% of Israelis, want this war to end and want the hostages to be brought home. And much of the public believes that the continuation or the renewal of the war is putting the hostages' lives in danger and don't believe that the release of the hostages can be achieved through military means. I would say that a good half of Israeli society, if not more, believe that there is no military solution for dealing with Hamas, and there must be a political solution. And even though we've seen support for Prime Minister Netanyahu increasing in the polls in the last couple of months, he still doesn't get enough support, if we were to have elections, to form a new coalition.
FADEL: Yeah.
BASKIN: So he is actually acting against the will of the majority of Israelis right now.
FADEL: Now, the prime minister would say, actually, this is the way, right? He said, from now on, negotiations will only be led under fire. As a hostage negotiator - a successful one, who negotiated the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit back in 2011 - is negotiating while attacks continue an effective strategy?
BASKIN: I don't think so. I think that with the situation that Hamas is in, without - the lack of the political leadership of Hamas in Gaza, only military leaders of Hamas are left in Gaza today. And they are not necessarily taking orders from the Hamas leadership outside. We're putting the hostages in direct danger. They have threatened to execute them. They could be killed by Israeli bombing. In Gaza, we know that hostages have been killed by Israeli bombing since the beginning of the war. There is no evidence whatsoever that the military pressure that Netanyahu talks about would actually achieve any of the goals that he's put for Israel in this war, either the elimination of Hamas or the return of the hostages. Quite the opposite.
FADEL: And so far, what we've seen is hostages have been released in exchange deals. Right now, Hamas is believed to be holding more than 20 hostages who are still alive. That doesn't include those who are believed to be dead. And Israel and the U.S. blame Hamas for the breakdown of the ceasefire, even though Israel broke it, because they are still holding the hostages. Does Hamas bear responsibility here for this resumption of violence?
BASKIN: Well, there were Hamas breaches during the ceasefire. But the main point is that Hamas compromised in entering into the first stage of the ceasefire because they were assured by the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, who apparently received assurance from the United States that Phase 2 of the hostage deal would lead to an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. This was the understanding of everyone who went into this deal that Mr. Witkoff enabled to happen. And in fact, Israel had committed itself to begin talks on Phase 2 by Day 16 of the first 42 days period and conclude those talks by Day 30. That never happened, and apparently, Netanyahu and Israel never had any intention of moving into Phase 2. So I think it's improper, it's inaccurate to put all the responsibility on Israel for the renewal of the...
FADEL: On Hamas or on Israel?
BASKIN: All the responsibility on Hamas - sorry - for the renewal of the war and not ending this war and bringing the hostages home. Hamas has said repeatedly that they're willing to release all the hostages. There are 59 in total, including those who are alive, and they have said they were willing to do it in one or two tranches. But yet, Israel has refused to agree to the terms, which would end the war and bring about an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
FADEL: And what are the hostage families saying in this moment about their loved ones and what they want?
BASKIN: The majority of the hostage families are panicking. They had hoped that their loved ones would be able to come home. They've gone through horrible tortures. We've heard the stories of the returning hostages, who have told very vivid accounts of the horrors that they went through during the 500-plus days that they were in captivity. And, of course, every single hostage family is very, very concerned that they may never see their loved ones again.
FADEL: That's longtime Israeli hostage negotiator and peace activist Gershon Baskin. Thank you for joining us.
BASKIN: Thank you.
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