Shalom Ben Hanan: Israel missed the opportunity to deal with Hamas

Shalom Ben Hanan says that he believes that Israel lost its momentum to deal with Hamas and release the hostages in an interview on "Shabbat Culture" with Moshe Neselbaum on Saturday, Maariv reported.

In the interview, which took place as part of the Community Centers event in Petah Tikva, Ben Hanan, a senior official of the Shin Bet who was, among other roles, the head of the Foreign Affairs Department said that the news published by the Hamas terror organization that IDF bombings killed the captives are false news - and that the captives were murdered by their captors in cold blood.

Hostage crisis insights

According to Ben Hanan, the news published by Hamas may be part of psychological warfare conducted by the organization. He also said that Hamas operatives and civilians treated some of the hostages with greater cruelty than how captured Nukhba terrorists were treated in Israel.

Regarding the question of whether Israel should pay anything for the return of the hostages, Ben Hanan noted that even if Israel will have to pay any price, that sort of saying should be avoided when starting negotiations.

Ben Hanan added that in his opinion, the concept of "any price" has no place in state management. According to him, anyone who thinks that any price is a strategy that a state can allow itself is mistaken. Regarding Sinwar, Ben Hanan said that he would not retreat from his position unless he thought he might be remembered as a destroyer of Palestinian society.