FREE 7000 PRISONERS, HAMAS WILL DEMAND FOR HOSTAGES...

Negotiator in 'all for all' exchange plea

-  JEREMY ARMSTRONG

ISRAEL will have to free every one of the 7000 Palestinian prisoners it is holding to secure the release of 240 hostages held in Gaza by Hamas since the October 7 atrocities, a hostage negotiator has warned. 

Gershon Baskin, who lives in Jerusalem and is director of the International Communities Organisation, working for peace in the Middle East, believes an “all for all” deal is the only way forward.

He said: “I do not think there is any other deal that would work to get them all out safely – that is the only one Hamas would consider.”

Baskin has dealt with Hamas for two decades and in 2011 secured the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit after he had been held for more than five years in Gaza.

Baskin believes the Israeli hostages are being kept in the hundreds of kilometres of tunnels under Gaza, thwarting any Israeli plan to free them through force rather than by negotiation.

He said: “Once they go into the tunnels, however physically with robots or gas or explosives, they are putting hostages in harm’s way between Hamas and the Israeli forces. There could be some miracle rescue missions. Some people might get rescued. But probably a lot will not be rescued and Israeli soldiers would be killed in the process.