Adam Boehler says that Tel Aviv Tribune `Nothing happens ” on the cease-fire agreement until the liberation, while the attack on Israel continues.
Washington, DC – Israeli attacks against Gaza will end if Hamas publishes all the remaining captives, said the best hostage envoy of US President Donald Trump in an interview with Tel Aviv Tribune.
“I can tell you that the fighting would end immediately, immediately if the hostages are released,” said Adam Boehler, a special American envoy for the hostage response. “The day these hostages are released, the fighting will end.”
Boehler’s comments came on Wednesday while the number of deaths of Israel’s offensive in Gaza reached 51,025, with at least 1,652 Palestinians killed since Israel’s attacks resumed after a previous cease-fire negotiated by Trump administration ended in March.
Despite the current assault on Israel on the enclave, Boehler said the ball was in the Hamas court.
“They can reach out to any time,” he said from the lawn of the White House. “Hamas can end this.”
Boehler added that Trump was clear that “nothing happens until all the hostages were released”.
“The first step is all the released hostages,” said Boehler. “The second step is, let’s discover this day after.”
He did not explain what this “day after” would look like, only briefly referring to Trump’s suggestion to move in mass Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries.
Hamas said it would only release captives if a new agreement to end the fighting was reached first. Such an agreement should include guarantees that have so far proven non-starters, including a complete withdrawal of the Israeli Gaza forces.
Under the preceding six-week ceasefire agreement, Hamas has published a total of 33 captives held in Gaza in exchange for an increase in humanitarian aid in the enclave and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A second phase, accepted in principle, was supposed to see the release of all the remaining captives held in Gaza in exchange for a permanent end of the fighting. A third phase was supposed to see the release of all bodies of captives and the implementation of a reconstruction plan.
But the negotiations broke out after the completion of the first phase of the agreement, Israel immediately renewing the attacks. Beyond those who are killed, the United Nations said that at least 500,000 Palestinians had been newly moved in the last series of fights.
Earlier this week, the Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the soldiers had finished creating a “security zone” between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis. He added that the Israeli army would “vigorously” extend its operation in Gaza.
Israel estimated that 24 living captives remain in Gaza, all considered as male soldiers. The bodies of 35 other captives would also be still in the Palestinian enclave.
Edan Alexander
Boehler, who had direct interviews with Hamas officials in March, spoke to Tel Aviv Tribune after Hamas rejected a new Israeli cease-fire proposal calling the group to fully disarm the day before.
Hamas also said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the group holding the Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander after the “direct Israeli bombardment” targeted the area where it was detained.
Boehler rejected the complaint, saying it was certain that Alexander was in a safe place and that Hamas would be “stupid” to harm him.
If something should happen to Alexander, it will not be pretty, “he added, without elaborating.