Israeli Defence Minister sees opportunity for hostage release in ceasefire talks
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that he sees an opportunity to secure the release of all hostages still held in Gaza through a ceasefire deal.
Palestinian militant group Hamas planned Saturday’s unprecedented air and ground assault against Israel for years and tricked the Israeli government into believing that they don’t want an armed conflict, according to a Times of Israel report.
“Hamas conducted years-long campaign to fool Israel into thinking the group did not desire armed conflict and could be placated with economic incentives to maintain relative calm,” the report citing sources close to the Gaza-bases outfit said.
Advertisement
Hamas has been using unprecedented intelligence tactic to mislead Israel over the last several months and gave the impression that it was not willing to engage in an armed conflict while preparing for the assault.
Advertisement
The Palestinian outfit reportedly built mock Israeli community in the Gaza Strip to train it’s militants.
“Israel surely saw them but they were convinced that Hamas wasn’t keen on getting into a confrontation,” the source close to Hamas was quoted as saying.
“Hamas was able to build a whole image that it was not ready for a military adventure against Israel,” the source adds.
More than 700 people have been killed and nearly 2500 others have been wounded after Hamas fired thousands of rockets before launching a full blown ground assault.
Hundreds of it’s militants invaded southern Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip border and killed women, children and Israeli defence forces personnel. The militants also kidnapped 130 people, who are being held captive in the Gaza Strip.
In response to the attack, Israel declared a war against Hamas and carried out air strikes on several Hamas targets, killing more than 400 Palestinians.
The Hamas attack was reportedly backed by Iran, who has openly congratulated the Palestinian militant group for carrying the assault on a such a scale.
Advertisement
