Hamas had offered on October 9 or 10 to release all the civilian hostages in exchange for the IDF not entering the Strip, but the government rejected the offer

[orangeblosssom]

Haim Rubinstein claims Israel rejected early Hamas offer to free all civilians if IDF didn't enter Gaza

No, that's not even close to what I said. Good try at putting words in my mouth though.

My point was they were never offering to return all the hostages. It was always only some. Which is obviously not acceptable. Remember how they kept Gilad Shalit 5 years and then released 1027 prisoners in exchange, a lot of them murderous terrorists including one who planned October 7th? So there is a bit more to it than an attempted sensationalist headline.

No, that's not even close to what I said

Well that's how I understood it. You have explained it better in this post

Then it never was about the hostages.
so, the return of the hostages wouldn’t mean the end of this war as some posters claim
it must be hurtful for families to hear their families could have been freed but their government decided that revenge was best option.

From what it says in the interview it was ALL civilian hostages in exchange for Israel not doing a ground invasion of Rafah.

What’s happened here is your statement offered an opportunity to interpret Israel’s actions in a bad light, so the pro Palestinian contingent leaped on it.
henceforward you are the IDFs appointed spokesperson. At least, so far as these intellectual giants are concerned.

If it's true, it's rather devastating. I think they should have accepted and at least got some people back alive, and not suffering months inside a war zone as hostages. It would have been a first step and they could take further action afterwards.

Yes, civilian. Hamas consider any Israeli aged 18-40 as not being civilians.

You may need to spell it out, then.

I read that interview when it was first published and what i understood from there was that it does seem as though Netanyahu has repeatedly been a obstacle in a deal being achieved. And this isn't the only person who has said it

Wouldn't be the first time I've been accused on here of being paid to defend Israel 😂

Really I didn't know that. Why though? Do you know it doesn't mention it in the interview

@Humdingerydoo But surely it was worth saving the children and elderly, if this is true?

Although over 40 is not elderly, of course.

Because anyone that age would either be of army age or reserve duty age. Facts don't matter to Hamas, they don't need their hostages to actually be in the army for them to pretend as though they are.

BTW this was a genuine question if you happen to know, not because I think you are a IDF/Israeli spokesperson etc etc

Thanks @Parkingt111
This makes little sense.
I would not expect any lies frim a person in his position.
On the other hand, if there had been an offer like such, any sane person would take it, get the hostages back. Then go in for the Hamas fighters (in a clinical way, and starting with the top leaders).
He says he was told, not that he was involved on the negotiations directly, so I do not know what to make out of it at this point. Who told him this? Why? Why saying this now and not before?

hasn’t there been some people freed from that age bracket? Thought they were keeping idf members and releasing the civilians at the beginning

As mentioned previously, look up Gilad Shalit and who he was exchanged for five years after he was kidnapped. You'll definitely recognise at least one of the names, Sinwar. I reckon this is why Israel adopted an "all of nothing" approach when it came to the hostages.

@Humdingerydoo Yes, I remember that, but I'm finding this a terrible piece of news, if it's correct. Lives could have been saved and that should always come first. Deal with the rest of it after, is my view.

As a starting point for saving lives, it should have been considered, at least. It looks like there was an opportunity for dialogue which could then have been built upon, which could have saved lives.

The idea that hostages could have been put through all of that time in horrendous conditions, even died in Gaza, when they could have been brought back home, is a very concerning one.

Ah, this situation breaks my heart every day @Scirocco

So you want them to have saved a few hostages and in doing so most likely condemning the remaining ones to death, or at the very least a guarantee of it taking years to get them back? Without trying something else first?

Israel thought they'd be getting all the hostages back swiftly by force. They were wrong. They took a gamble and it failed. They clearly underestimated just how much money and support Hamas had acquired over the years, how well-stocked their tunnels were. How well-prepared they were.

Fascinated to know what sort of dialogue the Kissingers of mumsnet think is possible with people who have explicitly dedicated themselves to your destruction and who perpetrated the most extreme atrocities imaginable against them the instant they had the opportunity.
serious as this subject is, there is so much that is comical about these discussions. I do have to laugh.

You seem very angry, based on your posts here and elsewhere, where you've been rather rude towards other people for no real reason.

In reality, all you're achieving is making yourself look bad.

I hope you feel better soon.