It is not that Hamas has won the battle over the hostage-for-ceasefire deal, but rather that Israel has lost, according to Noga Tarnopolsky, Israel correspondent for France24.
She explained that Israel “brazenly” violated the international agreement it made with Hamas, which stated that negotiations for Phase II were supposed to begin on Day 16 of the Phase I agreement.
"Israel walked away cavalierly, as though there was no commitment," Tarnopolsky said. "Israel committed to redeploying its forces and to abandoning what's called the Philadelphi Corridor, the Gaza-Egypt border on day 42. We ignored that completely. Israel is trampling on an existing agreement and trying to conjure up fantasies of another, of a better agreement, but Hamas doesn't want to give it a better agreement, and Hamas has a signed deal in hand.
"So we are at a standstill, by and large, caused by Israel," she continued. "It is very bad for Israel, very mismanaged by Israel."
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Tarnopolsky’s comments came as U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was in Doha, negotiating with Qatar on behalf of Israel. He told the media that there appeared to be some breakthroughs this week, with Hamas showing signs of softening toward a new deal. The proposed agreement would include the release of 10 live hostages in exchange for 50 days of quiet in Gaza, among other components. However, it remained unclear whether the deal would move forward.
Wasserman Lande: A New Deal Must Bring the Hostages Home
Ruth Wasserman Lande, who also appeared on Insider, pushed back on Tarnopolsky’s claims, arguing that the original agreement was “absolutely awful,” but that it did succeed in bringing the first group of hostages home.
"We need those people back before anything truly will move forward," Wasserman Lande said. "Plus, it would be very useful and very advisable to have a strategy—a strategy as in, what do we want that terrible term ‘the day after’ to look like? Whom do we want or do not want in the Gaza Strip?"
She referenced former U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Gazans could be relocated to other countries, stating that she would not dismiss such a plan outright. She also emphasized the need for Israel to define a role for Egypt and Jordan in the future of Gaza.
However, Wasserman Lande stressed that before any of these decisions can be made, the hostages must be brought home.
"It would free Israel from the chains it's in now, but it's also the moral responsibility of any government to first bring them back," she said.
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INSIDER - 11.03.25
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