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Senior Israeli officials: a political opportunity following the operation to promote a solution for the captives and the missing - voila! news

2022-08-08T07:07:31.607Z


"We are certainly aware of the opportunity against Gaza the day after," the officials said, "we want to take the current situation forward." The officials also added that Israel did not estimate that the arrest of the senior jihadist would lead to escalation, but made it clear that he would not be released. According to them, the understanding that Hamas is not interested in escalation was important


Senior Israeli officials: a political opportunity following the operation to promote a solution for the captives and the missing

"We are certainly aware of the opportunity against Gaza the day after," the officials said, "we want to take the current situation forward."

The officials also added that Israel did not estimate that the arrest of the senior jihadist would lead to escalation, but made it clear that he would not be released.

According to them, the understanding that Hamas is not interested in escalation was important

Barak Ravid

08/08/2022

Monday, August 8, 2022, 09:36 Updated: 10:01

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In the video: Prime Minister Lapid and Defense Minister Gantz toured with the Chief of Staff in the Southern Command and the Gaza Strip (Photo: Elad Malka, Ministry of Defense)

The operation provided a political opportunity to promote a solution to the issue of prisoners and missing people in Gaza, senior Israeli officials said this morning (Monday).

"We are certainly aware that there is an opportunity against Gaza the day after," they said in a press briefing.

"We don't want to miss it. We are in the midst of a captives and missing persons incident, and Hamas' recent statements on the subject are something we want to leverage in other directions as well. It is very complicated, but we want to take the current situation forward and not be satisfied with just being silent in the face of the Islamic Jihad."



The senior officials said that Israel did not estimate that the arrest of senior Jihad leader Bassam al-Saadi in Jenin early last week would lead to an escalation.

"We entered this event not out of choice," they clarified.

"The escalation against the Islamic Jihad began two weeks ago. The two regional commanders who were eliminated had carried out attacks before. The goal that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense defined was to find a way to prevent escalation and reduce tensions."



According to the officials, the processes that led to a ceasefire began even before the operation - when Israel tried through intermediaries to get Jihad to stop the implementation of the attack - a move that was unsuccessful.

"We realized that they were not planning to withdraw without taking significant action against us and it was impossible to continue to keep the envelope closed, so we launched the operation," they repeated.

"From the beginning we wanted to focus on jihad. A decision was made to only act against them when there was an operational opportunity or a need to thwart an attack, and that's how we acted on Friday."

The prisoners and the missing in the hands of Hamas (photo: courtesy of the family)

During the operation, Israel acted against Egypt and Qatar, and updated the Americans with the details.

"It has proven itself in terms of international support," they said.

"It was important to the Prime Minister that the world understand why we entered into the operation. This transparency was helpful. The ceasefire talks began on Saturday. The fact that the leader of the jihad was in Tehran made it difficult for the organization to agree to a ceasefire. The Egyptian mediation was intense and the relationship with them was very close. On Saturday night they offered us to leave for a humanitarian ceasefire, but on Sunday morning, after the shooting into Jerusalem, it was decided to go for a full ceasefire and not a humanitarian one. It took a few hours longer than we wanted. We thought it would be possible already in the afternoon, but a few more hours were needed."



The senior officials added that the understanding that Hamas was not interested in the round of escalation was an important element in the decision making.

"This operation is not similar to the operation to eliminate Bahaa Abu al-Ata, because this time we knew with a high degree of certainty that Hamas wanted to be left out. This is not to Hamas' credit. They did not fulfill their responsibility to prevent the round and we noted this before us. We are happy that they did not enter the round and did not expand the campaign but not fulfilling the responsibility to prevent escalation is what we expected from those who claim to control the Strip."

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Source: walla

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