Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, a close confidante of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel just months ago held advanced negotiations with Hamas over a potential hostage swap deal that would have seen Israel free terror convicts in return for two hostages and the bodies of two IDF soldiers who had been held in Gaza.
The comments appear to confirm a report last month by the Kan public broadcaster that Hamas duped Israel by holding fake negotiations with the highest echelons in the Israeli government, all while planning its October 7 mass invasion, in which thousands of terrorists murdered some 1,200 in Israel and kidnapped more than 240.
“We were prepared, a few months ago, with the same [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar — we held negotiations over [the bodies of] Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin and the other two civilians who are there [Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed],” Deri tells the ultra-Orthodox Kol Chai radio station.
“I don’t want to repeat the number and the type of murderers we were willing to release.”
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Thursday, November 23, 2023
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