After seven weeks of war, the first diplomatic breakthrough between Israel and Hamas has finally occurred, with the confirmed release of 13 Israeli and 11 Thai and Filipino hostages by Hamas, and the release of 39 Palestinian prisoners by Israel. The released hostages consist of elderly women and children, including toddlers. Over a four-day cease-fire brokered primarily by Qatar, Hamas has pledged to release 50 hostages and Israel has agreed to release 150 prisoners.
Israel is vowing to resume and continue the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are released. Hamas, for its part, was accused of violating the cease-fire only minutes after it began, when air-raid sirens sounded in southern Israel. The bloody war, which began soon after Hamas’ vicious terrorist attack on southern Israel, has resulted in the deaths of more than a thousand Israelis, most of them innocent citizens, and has since claimed the lives of more than ten thousand Palestinians and resulted in widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip.
With Palestinians worldwide continuing to insist on the complete extermination of Israel, it is unlikely that any cease-fire or peace agreement brokered by third parties will do anything other than furnish an interval for Hamas and other Palestinian militant and terrorist organizations to rearm. It is to be hoped that, in the almost inevitable continuing conflict, the lives of innocent civilians, including the more than 200 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists, will be respected.
