Giora Eiland: 'The chances of returning hostages are not high'

Former head of the National Security Council (NSC), Maj.-Gen. Giora Eiland, addressed the issue of returning the Israeli captives and abductees in Gaza on Sunday morning. 

In a conversation with Anat Davidov and Udi Segal on the Seven Nine program on 103FM, he stated, "It's a goal that, even if you define it, the chances of fully realizing it are not high."

"Even if we tell Hamas today, 'I'm willing to release all the terrorists from Israeli prisons, including the most despicable murderers, in exchange for all the captives,' you have no deal. [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar's euphoria is so high, that from his perspective, the goal is to demolish the State of Israel, so even the achievement of releasing all the prisoners is not enough," he continued. "Let's say such a deal happens: Hamas isn't stupid – they won't release the hostages all at once, they'll stretch this over five years."

International community's response to Israel's attacks on Gaza

Later in the conversation, he referred to the international community's response to Israel's attacks on Gaza. "We see a very solid anti-Israel front; anyone who still fantasizes about [achieving] overall peace with the Arabs, it's not only that it won't happen [anyway, but now] we are much more isolated," he said. "If we're talking about the international arena, the battle is not over. Arab countries: it's a lost battle [to get their support]. We're in a tough fight with the rest of the world."

"The world tells us that 'You had a terrible humanitarian disaster, but the dead cannot be brought back. We have no leverage on Hamas, but there's another humanitarian disaster in Gaza.'

"There is no entity in the world, including the United States, that supports Israel's war objective - the elimination of Hamas," Eiland clarified.

"The rest of the world, including our friends, says we have the right to defend ourselves, but no one supports the Israeli offensive goal. Let's say we've achieved what we want – no one in the world is willing to dip their finger in Gaza and say they'll take responsibility for what's happening in Gaza," he said.

"And let's say we've succeeded with everything in Gaza and deterred Hezbollah, now we'll have the challenge of how to return the residents of the North to live there when Hezbollah is 200 meters from the settlements," he predicted. "We are kind of in an independence war that will last a long time; meanwhile, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel."