Tzvi Yechezkeli, i24NEWS journalist and an Arab affairs analyst, spoke Thursday morning about the negotiations for a potential ceasefire-prisoner swap deal, and where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar might be hiding.
In an interview with 103FM Radio, Yechezkeli said, "We have the hostages, and we don't see Hamas being flexible right now. In my opinion, Hamas is not really into the negotiations at this point. It takes place when Hamas leadership abroad receive some offer from the ground, pass it to the negotiators, and this takes place about once every two months."
He added that "if our intelligence does not know, by this stage, where Sinwar is, that is a worse failure of concept than October 7."
"I am sure that they know which area he is in - but what is true, is that you cannot act, because he surrounds himself with hostages."
According to Yechezkeli, "Anything that you would call 'Hamas under pressure' is something that happens on a different timetable than our timetable. The game is one of time right now."
Sinwar, he stressed, "knows this."
"Israel went to war with the declared goals of destroying Hamas and decimating its military capabilities," he explained. He stressed, "Look how many people in our society are pained over the matter of the hostages. Slowly, slowly, we understood, that the matter of bringing back the hostages is what hurts us most."
Yechezkeli also said that if it were up to him, he would "examine the options for increasing the military pressure on Hamas" and focusing operations in the terror group's underground tunnels, instead of focusing on a potential deal - which during the first stage would see just 18 living hostages released.
"We are respecting Qatar's game rules. Qatar, which funds Hamas, is now dressing up as a kind of mediator. I get it - you have to get the Satan to negotiate if you want to bring back our hostages. But why not hit them where it hurts?"
He added, "Time is passing, and this is time that Israel could have applied more military pressure on Hamas. ... Imagine what would have happened if Israel had decided to operate in the underground and come closer and hurt Hamas' spine. ... We can still do a lot of things before we reach the point of having no options."
Hamas' leadership, Yechezkeli explained, is not a group of people, but "one person, who took all of this insanity on himself." Though there are others who agree with Sinwar, "the decision is in his hands only."
"We can talk in Israel about yes a deal, not a deal, nothing matters. Until Sinwar gives the okay, it won't happen. And when will he say 'okay'? Right now he isn't saying 'okay.' ... We're destroying Gaza, your civilians are undergoing a tragedy, and you still say no to a deal? Yeah, so apparently it doesn't hurt you enough yet.
"What will happen after the interim stage? There will still be hostages in Gaza, what will we do then? What cards will we still have in our hands? There will still be hostages in Gaza during the second and third stages of the deal. That's a problem. We need to improve this deal using military pressure, and I think we can still do a lot."