In a Western Negev gas station, customers are in agreement that a hostage deal is needed, but that it took too long

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

At a gas station close to Ofakim in the western Negev, customers are unanimous that the government must accept the hostage deal with Hamas, saying they only wish it had happened earlier.

“If the prime minister had taken responsibility and understood that we could have done this a long time ago, the lives of many soldiers [killed fighting Hamas] could have been saved, ” says Dora Azuelos from Moshav Gilat. “For us, every soldier is as important as a hostage.”

Shlomo Zechut, also from Moshav Gilat, expresses similar thoughts, adding, “I would have preferred if the hostages had been released much sooner. We should have given (Hamas) all the terrorists they wanted in May,” when negotiations on a virtually identical hostage deal proposal collapsed.

Hamas cannot be destroyed, he posits, because you can’t destroy an idea. He says that instead, Israel has to ensure the terror group remains as weak as possible and keep a close eye on everything it does.

While he declares that the war has been managed “terribly” by Israel, with the IDF clearing an area of terror operatives only for them to return and regroup later, he says he opposes any kind of Israeli occupation of the Strip.

Nimrod, 25, who prefers not to give his surname or location other than saying he is from the Western Negev, doesn’t like the fact that the deal will be implemented in stages rather than all at once.

“We have no choice,” he allows. “We have to bring them back. After that, we can deal with Hamas.”

He criticizes the government for lacking any plan for the day after the war, saying Israel should have replaced Hamas with the Palestinian Authority or even Egypt.

“It is good that we destroyed the Hamas leadership,” he says, “but we failed to capitalize on it.”

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